"The United States has long been a haven for those fleeing persecution and oppression. But today, the treatment for asylum seekers can be so terrible that some are asking to be sent back to the very countries they were escaping. This includes women who are locked up alongside men, sometimes the very men they were trying to escape ... This is life for transgender women in U.S. immigration detention facilities ... A six-month Fusion investigation found that conditions for transgender women locked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are often humiliating, dangerous, and even deadly ... What makes ICE detainees different from prisoners is that they aren’t behind bars serving criminal sentences. Rather, they are locked up, waiting to see a judge who will decide whether or not they’ll be deported. A growing number of state and federal prisons across the country allow for transgender individuals to be housed based on their gender identity, regardless of their genitalia or sex at birth." Some of the sobering facts about transgender people under ICE detention are: on average, 75 transgender detainees are locked up each night-10% transgender men and 90% transgender women; of every 500 individuals, 1 detainee is transgender; of every 5 victims of confirmed sexual abuse, 1 victim is transgender. This report discusses: the housing of transgender detainees-transgender women not being housed with the female population; targets for prison rape during ICE detention; the detention-bed mandate of 2009; denial of needed medication; and alternative to detention.
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