Mistreatment of LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers in ICE Facilities

A new report, “No Human Being Should Be Here,” details human rights abuses and mistreatment of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment facilities.

According to the report, 18 out of 41 of the queer detainees who were interviewed reported being sexually assaulted while in the custody of federal immigration authorities. Thirty-five out of 41 reported receiving some kind of harassment from other detainees under custody either for being queer or immigrants. Of the mistreatment and abuses at these facilities, a major concern brought to attention by the report is the lack of access to healthcare. Twenty-eight out of 41 reported receiving inadequate medical care. Seventeen of the detainees interviewed identify as HIV-positive. Thirteen of those who reported their HIV status also reported that they were denied treatment or medical care.

Lee VanderLinden, supervising attorney for National Immigrant Justice Center’s LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative, claims, “I haven’t seen improvements for medical care of HIV-positive people or of trans people generally, with access to (hormone replacement therapy for gender-affirming care) or other medical interventions … I haven’t seen a coordinated effort to improve those conditions.”

In 2018, a transgender woman from Honduras named Roxana Hernandez was in ICE custody and housed in the transgender housing unit before being admitted to the hospital with symptoms of pneumonia, dehydration, and HIV complications. She died of cardiac arrest while in custody.

The following year, Udoka Nweke, a gay Nigerian man, was released from detainment. He arrived in ICE custody following an attack he faced at home with knives and witnessing the death of his intimate partner. According to Ola Osaze, national organizer for the Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project at the Transgender Law Center, “These are the conditions that create queer and trans migration, and sending someone who’s experienced this violence to a detention center is inhumane.” Nweke says he faced violence and verbal threats because of his sexuality while under detainment. This was not addressed by ICE officers. During detainment, Nweke suffered with mental health issues and survived two suicide attempts.

The same year, a second transgender woman, Johana Medina Leon, died just three days after being paroled. ICE officials report that Leon requested an HIV test during her detainment and tested positive. This was the same day she was paroled.  However, she was subsequently hospitalized following chest pains. Following Leon’s death, 29 transgender women released a statement about their conditions in ICE facilities. The letter was three pages, written in Spanish, and was addressed from the same facility where Roxana Hernandez was detained. It detailed abuses, while the day after its release, ICE tweeted images of detainees getting their hair done and playing basketball, alleging it takes accusations of mistreatment within its facilities seriously.

In 2020, 45 members of congress sent a letter to ICE demanding the immediate release of all transgender detainees. The next year, a letter was issued to President Joe Biden reiterating that same demand from three dozen former transgender detainees.