Abuse that Trans Women face in Immigration centers

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Conclusion- post #7

Things have been slowly changing and the administration has created laws for the federal facilities. Now with the private facilities, they need to work on them because the laws that the president sets on the federal facilities do not matter to the private ones. The concept of having these transgender women in these institutions is “to ensure their presence at immigration hearings and compliance with immigration orders” (Zitsch 109 ). We also need to understand that they are not prisoners, but they are treated like one. These “civil detainees are unlike prisoners in that they are not detained for the purpose of punishment or incapacitation for any criminal offense. Despite their status as civil detainees, persons in immigration detention facilities are mistreated to an equal—and sometimes greater—extent than criminal detainees” (Zitsch 109). After reading several articles I came to an agreement that the several cases of abuse that go on in these institutions go against our fifth amendment. The fifth amendment also known as “the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, conditions and restrictions of a detention facility must be non punitive in both purpose and effect” (Zitsch 109) this means that the amount of ‘punishment’ that these transgender women are receiving can be called abuse because they have not been on trial nor are they serving any type of crime. Personally, this is an issue that matters a lot I mean I would not like to see anyone of my loved ones go through these type of abuses. Especially abuses that if they were done in public such as sexual abuse they would get penalized for. As a community, we need to raise awareness and understand that these women are human and deserve the respect that everyone else has.

Citing page 

Zitsch, Lauren. “Where the American Dream Becomes a Nightmare: LGBT Detainees in Immigration Detention Facilities.” William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 22, no. 1, 2016, pp. 105–128., scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1416&context=wmjowl.

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Facilities that focus only on transgender people - post #6

Many people believe that because these type of institutions exist they are the solution to the problem. People also believe that these institutions treat transgender people a lot better than the regular immigration facilities. Well, Human Right Watch conducted an interview with the inmates from Santa Ana California immigration facility to see how they were treated. Many of them concluded that they were treated the same or worse in this facility. They stated that the guards and doctors would not use the proper pronouns for them. In another article called “How Trans ICE Detainees Ended Up in a Men’s Detention Center in the Middle of New Mexico “ stated that the guards in Santa Ana would mistreat them by doing massive strip searches and frequent lockdowns that involved staying their cells for up to 24 hours a day. To them being locked up in a cell has a connection to do with solitary confinement. Which connects to the type of abuse that these women are going through. People need to understand that just because this institution was created for transgender people that do not mean that they are there to help them. Many of them stated that they waited three to four months to get their medication if they were lucky enough to do so.

Citing page 

Stauffer, Brian. “‘Do You See How Much I'm Suffering Here?" | Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention.” Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 6 June 2017, www.hrw.org/report/2016/03/23/do-you-see-how-much-im-suffering-here/abuse-against-transgender-women-us

Rivas, Jorge. “How Trans ICE Detainees Ended Up in a Men's Detention Center in the Middle of New Mexico.” Splinter, Splinternews.com, 5 June 2017, splinternews.com/how-trans-ice-detainees-ended-up-in-a-men-s-detention-c-1795818417.  

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Lack of Health Care- Post #5

Just like they are placed in solitary confinement most of these women are denied health resources. They are denied their hormonal treatment and usually HIV medication. If they are told that they will be granted these medications it takes months for them to receive them. Victoria which was Bamby Salcedo friend had a severe illness called AIDS and she would plead to be able to receive the medication that she needed but was denied. A few months later she ended up dying because she left the disease untreated. Salcedo said that “because of the ignorance of the medical staff and the guards and the people that work in these facilities, she ended up dying chained in her bed”.  This is not the first nor the last case to be denied medical treatment usually they need a note from their lawyer and their doctor saying that they need those medications.

           In my opinion, no one should plead for their life or for them to receive the medication needed to survive. The facility should be sued because I know for a fact if she was granted the medicine needed she would still be here today. Also, the doctors ignore these women because they think that they are not fully women that they are just acting to be. As a doctor, they should not care for the gender of their patients they should just worry about giving the medical treatment necessary for their patients. The things that these types of facilities are doing be a hate crime. Most people do not want to stand up to the authorities because they are in power, but we need to make a change. A lot of transgender women are dying because of the denied access to health care stated the United We dream in their article on  “5 Things You Should Know About Trans & Queers in Detention”. This is something that we can change.

Citing page 

    Stauffer, Brian. “‘Do You See How Much I'm Suffering Here?" | Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention.” Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 6 June 2017, www.hrw.org/report/2016/03/23/do-you-see-how-much-im-suffering-here/abuse-against-transgender-women-us.

“5 Things You Should Know About Trans & Queers in Detention.” United We Dream, UNITED WE DREAM, 13 July 2017, unitedwedream.org/2014/09/5-things-know-trans-queers-detention/.

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*trigger warning* Solitary confinement - Post #4

Fusion said that every night there is over 300 people that are in solitary confinement in ICE custody this includes trans detainees. Most of the people put in solitary confinement is to punish them for disobedience in this case for these transgender women is to ‘protect’ them. Solitary confinement should be the last resort even though that is usually not the case. Clemente Lee of Immigration Equality expressed that solitary confinement is really torture for these women to the point that they plead to be sent back to their own country. Lee explained that they prefer to experience the abuse at home than being in these detention facilities. A detention facility should not be a torturing place especially because they are not in prison. They are just making time for coming to this country the country that was supposed to save them from all that torture.

           Juan E Mendez states that solitary confinement that exceeds more than fifteen days should be banned. There are several studies such as the “Do You See How Much I’m Suffering Here?”Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention show that being solitary too long can lead to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Usually, when these women come out from this solitary confinement they experience a huge trauma. I believe that we are meant to socialize and putting these women that have done nothing to deserve being put in solitary confinement is wrong. Also, there have been some cases where these women are just put in there because of who they are. They are also placed in there for a long period of time usually for days. This is considered a type of abuse because they basically leave them to themselves until they turn crazy or start developing other illnesses.  

 Citing page 

Costantini, Cristina, et al. “Why Are Transgender Women Locked up with Men in the Immigration System?” Trans Asylum Seekers Face Appalling Treatment in Immigration Detention, 2014, interactive.fusion.net/trans/.

Stauffer, Brian. “‘Do You See How Much I'm Suffering Here?" | Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention.” Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 6 June 2017, www.hrw.org/report/2016/03/23/do-you-see-how-much-im-suffering-here/abuse-against-transgender-women-us.

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*Trigger Warning* Sexual Abuse/Sexual Harassment - Post #3

Once these transgender women are placed in the men facility just like I have said before they are placed to be abused. These women are fifteen more times likely to experience sexual abuse than a heterosexual or nontransgender person. If that is not enough information for people to be aware of the trouble well in every one-fifth of the sexual assaults that have been reported involve transgender women, according to an investigation done by the Government Accountability Office (Costantini). This shows the danger that these women are being placed in. Not only that but they can also contract any type of sexual diseases including HIV which is the most known in these facilities. Most of these women that have faced sexual abuse in the time that they have been detained they have noticed that the guards do not do anything to protect them.

In an interview that I have watched Monserrath Lopez explained that one time she was taking a shower and that a man went into the shower across from her and he started to masturbate in front of her. Of course, she panicked just like any of us would she showered quickly and tried to dress. Before she was able to dress herself, the man finished what he was doing and ejaculated on her back. The guard was supposed to be there to protect her, but as soon as she turns around he was not there. These are disturbing stories that do happen in real life and these women do not have anyone to protect them. The guards instead of doing what they are supposed to which is help these women they join in on the sexual assault or they blame them for ‘acting’ like women. Most of the time they are scared to report these types of abuse. Especially since they already know that the guards would not do anything to protect them. If these women know that these guards would protect them then the inmates doing these types of abuse also know that. Other women that were also interviewed by the Human Rights Watch in a mad tone said that her fellow inmates would keep on abusing her because they knew that they would not get in trouble. This is a significant issue, especially because this is happening in a federal environment a place where there should be more protection and security. Sadly, that is not the case in these immigration facilities.

Citing page 

  Costantini, Cristina, et al. “Why Are Transgender Women Locked up with Men in the Immigration System?” Trans Asylum Seekers Face Appalling Treatment in Immigration Detention, 2014, interactive.fusion.net/trans/.

Stauffer, Brian. “‘Do You See How Much I'm Suffering Here?" | Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention.” Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 6 June 2017, www.hrw.org/report/2016/03/23/do-you-see-how-much-im-suffering-here/abuse-against-transgender-women-us.

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Oppression based on Gender - Post #2

In the United States, there is a protocol that ICE needs to follow to know where to house their inmates. In the article, “Five things you should know about trans and queer in detention”, emphasize that “The protocol to consider housing for detainees is not decided on self-assessed gender, but instead on physical anatomy or legal documentation”. This means that most of the guards notice the tone of their voice or their muscles they will automatically assume that they are men. The fact that most of these guards just assume their gender by their physical anatomy is troublesome. Most of these transgender women are being placed in the wrong facility for that reason. Thom Senzee states the following “Most male-to-female transgender individuals who are incarcerated are placed in men’s prisons, even if they have undergone surgery or hormone therapies to develop overtly feminine traits. Their obvious gender nonconformity puts them at extremely high risk for abuse." Since they are being placed in the wrong detention center these women are set up to go through a lot of abuse. It all starts here in where ICE decides to put them they decide their destiny.

When transgender women are being placed in the men facilities they are in an environment where machismo is being enforced. They tend to experience verbal abuse by the guards or other staff members. The staff uses phrases such as “I am tired of seeing you faggets”, “stop trying to act like a woman”, and the most common one “Man up already”. It all starts here just being placed in the wrong facility would make the time that these women are in there miserable or tolerable.

 Citing page 

“5 Things You Should Know About Trans & Queers in Detention.” United We Dream, UNITED WE DREAM, 13 July 2017, unitedwedream.org/2014/09/5-things-know-trans-queers-detention/.

Senzee, Thom. “Women Are Still Locked in Immigration Detention Cells With Men Just Because They're Trans.” ADVOCATE, Advocate.com, 25 May 2015, www.advocate.com/world/2015/05/25/women-are-still-locked-immigration-detention-cells-men-just-because-theyre-trans.

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Introduction- post #1

In over 72 countries homosexuality is still a crime (Banning-Lover). These people get beaten or incarcerated for just being themselves. That is why most transgender people decide to leave their home behind to have a free life. Most of these transgender women do not get the chance. They end up being detained by the immigration officers known as ICE, facing severe abuse. For some of them it is the same abuse that they faced in their home country. For others it was something that they were trying to avoid. For many immigrants getting to the United States is already a tough journey. But for these transgender women that journey does not end, it gets worse.

“Ice and the homeland security ask every day to maintain no less than 34,000 beds in more than 250 detention facilities” (Zitsch 106). This means that ICE is obligated by Congress to fill up these beds because that is money that the government is putting in these facilities. For ICE their easier targets are transgender women because they are the ones that are coming a lot more often to this country for a ‘free’ life. This ends with transgender women going to these immigration facilities experiencing the abuse that they thought they would never experience in this country. Even if they are put in facilities that are just made for transgender people they still suffer usually a lot more than the regular facilities. In this blog I will talk about the different abuse that these women are going through when they step into these detention centers. I will focus on adult abuse. Those types of abuse include the following: Oppression on the basis of gender, sexual abuse, solitary confinement, and lack of health care. I will also talk about the laws that have helped these women in a way and the changes that need to be made.

Citing page

Banning-Lover, Rachel. “Where Are the Most Difficult Places in the World to Be Gay or Transgender?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Mar. 2017, www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/mar/01/where-are-the-most-difficult-places-in-the-world-to-be-gay-or-transgender-lgbt.

Zitsch, Lauren. “Where the American Dream Becomes a Nightmare: LGBT Detainees in Immigration Detention Facilities.” William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 22, no. 1, 2016, pp. 105–128., scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1416&context=wmjowl.