Advocates are calling for the release of a transgender woman in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after she was sexually assaulted and harassed while detained in an Arizona immigration facility with men for nine months. Several advocacy groups, including the ACLU of Arizona and Trans Queer Pueblo, demand that Alejandra Alor Reyes be released on humanitarian grounds while she awaits an appeal in her asylum case, the Associated Press reported. Advocates say this is just another example of the unsafe conditions transgender immigrants face in detention centers, in addition to not being held with individuals of the gender they identify with.
According to advocates, an estimate of at least 90 transgender immigrants are being held in detention centers with immigrants who identify as a different sex. Reyes, who is seeking asylum from Mexico, is suffering from PTSD. She fled Mexico after suffering both abuse and discrimination for being transgender. According to the AP, Reyes was kidnapped, beaten, and had part of her thumb cut off shortly after attempting to seek asylum at an official border crossing.
Reyes has been in custody since June and has served two stints, including one for a month in solitary confinement, advocates said. Advocates are arguing that ICE has violated its own policies by placing Reyes in solitary confinement for longer than it should have. “ICE continues to fail to address her needs and further harms her by keeping her in custody,” said Yvette Borja, an attorney with the ACLU of Arizona.
An ICE spokesman said the agency offered to transfer Reyes to transgender-specific housing in August but she declined. While ICE claims it is “committed to upholding an immigration detention system that prioritizes the health, safety, and welfare of all of those in its care and custody, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals,” the only transgender-specific housing was located in New Mexico. This facility, the Cibola County Correctional Center, closed down in January in the wake of health concerns and issues of medical mistreatment. Despite those allegations, ICE continued to detain a population of over 100 at its facility until January. Earlier this month, Daily Kos reported on the lack of medical care the facility provided, including reported incidents in which transgender immigrants waited up to 17 days for urgently needed medical care.
Immigrants in detention centers face a multitude of cruelties. Advocates are urging that ICE release Reyes before her appeal. “We are concerned about her mental health because she has been diagnosed with PTSD. It will lead to mental health deterioration if she is not released,” Borja said, according to the AP. While ICE claims it cares about the detained, the evidence of lack of medical care and clear negligence says otherwise. ICE continues to make headlines for its mistreatment of immigrants in and outside of its custody, and the federal agency must be abolished.