The Precarious Position of Transgender Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

Post submitted by HRC Foundation Outreach & Research Coordinator Katalina Hadfield

Over the last year, an international spotlight has been placed on the mistreatment of transgender people in the U.S. immigration detention system. Many transgender people come to this country fleeing persecution in their home countries — and the number of undocumented transgender people and trans asylum seekers in the U.S. is higher than many may think.

The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates that there are currently between 15,000 and 50,000 undocumented transgender immigrants living in the U.S. However, these numbers are hard to estimate, as many people are reluctant to self-report as transgender due, in part, to fear of maltreatment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and the persecution they faced at home. More than 70 countries criminalize LGBTQ people, while many more still serve as challenging places for transgender people to live freely and peacefully.

It was for this reason that Karolina López left Mexico in 2009. “I asked for asylum because of prosecution in my country,” she told Remezcla. “A gang raped me and wanted to mutilate my genitals, so I asked for political asylum in the United States.”

Griselda, a 25-year-old trans immigrant from Nicaragua, told AZCentral that “I’ve had people point guns at me and threaten to throw me out the window of the hotel…I was afraid they would knock my teeth out because they wanted to beat me, to kill me, simply because of who I am, because of my gender identity.”

When trans people arrive in the U.S. seeking asylum and safety, however, they are met with further mistreatment and discrimination. According to the Center for American Progress, ICE “detains transgender women in 17 facilities. Four are all-male facilities.” There is one transgender “pod” of detainment in Cibola County, New Mexico, a location rural enough that it makes it very difficult for detainees to report assault or maltreatment or to seek legal protection.

In addition, trans women were detained on average more than twice the average length of detainment of all immigrants held in ICE custody during fiscal year 2017. Trans people (and particularly transgender women) have also consistently reported harassment, assault and maltreatment from ICE officers due to their transgender status. Roxana Hernández, 33, ​passed away on May 25, 2018 while in ICE custody after fleeing violence and discrimination in Honduras. The Transgender Law Center is spearheading legal action to hold “all parties responsible for Roxsana Hernandez’s death accountable.”

Although there is existing Obama-era guidance on best practices for treatment of transgender immigrants, they are not mandatory and facilities often do not follow them. According to a 2018 letter from the Office of Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “of the 298 transgender people ICE detained in fiscal year 2017, 13% were placed in solitary confinement.”

Coming to the U.S. as a transgender person in order to escape persecution or maltreatment due to transgender status is considered by U.S. immigration policy to be a meritable reason to request asylum. However, being granted asylum is an arduous process that can take years.

For one transgender immigrant, Estrella Sanchez, it took six years to be granted asylum status, “including three appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and a trip to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit” before her asylum petition was finally signed by a judge this past May. This was after attaining a pro bono lawyer, whose firm spent around 800 hours on Sanchez’s case.

Last month, HRC submitted comments to oppose a shameful proposed “public charge” rule from DHS that would exclude people from entering the U.S. if they might utilize Medicaid, food stamps, rental assistance or prescription drug subsidies. This could disproportionately burden transgender immigrants, who face higher rates of discrimination, poverty, homelessness and violence.

As we enter the new year, here are a few steps you can take to support and protect undocumented transgender people in the U.S. and at the border:

• Support organizations on the ground helping trans asylum seekers and others being held near the U.S. border such as the San Diego LGBT Community Center, RAICES, the Transgender Law Center and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
• Educate yourself and others by learning more about immigration in the U.S., transgender people and how these identities intersect.
• Share this information with friends, family and on social media. The National Center for Transgender Equality, the Transgender Law Center and RAICES are good starting points.
• Show up to protests, marches and events that challenge the treatment of undocumented immigrants and trans people in the U.S.

www.hrc.org/blog/the-precarious-position-of-transgender-immigrants-and-asylum-seekers?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Gay ‘Batwoman’ Pilot Picked Up For New CW Series

The CW has given a pilot order to Batwoman, its groundbreaking DC drama project starring Ruby Rose. David Nutter (Game of Thrones, Arrow, The Flash) has been tapped to direct the pilot in consideration for next season reports Deadline.

Based on its name recognition and pedigree, the project from Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television and writer Caroline Dries emerged as an early standout immediately after the CW unveiled its development on the heels of announcing the Batwoman character’s appearance in the annual Arrow-verse crossover at the May upfronts. The project’s profile got even bigger once Orange Is the New Black‘s Ruby Rose was cast as Batwoman this past summer.

The crossover event gave us a flirtatious moment between her and Supergirl, a relationship we have to ship. Helmed by Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions, this show will further the franchise’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, having recently introduced a black lesbian superhero in Black Lightning.

Batwoman marks the first gay lead character — male or female — of a live-action superhero series. In the CW’s drama based on the DC characters, she’s armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate Kane (Rose) soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city’s criminal resurgence. But don’t call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope.

The CW’s DC crossover will re-air on the network starting next Monday.

The post Gay ‘Batwoman’ Pilot Picked Up For New CW Series appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Lesbian ‘Batwoman’ Pilot Picked Up For New CW Series

The GLAAD Wrap: ‘Batwoman’ pilot ordered, new trailer for ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ ‘Boomerang’ first look, and more!

www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-wrap-batwoman-pilot-ordered-new-trailer-brooklyn-nine-nine-boomerang-first-look-and-more

Historic: House Rules Package Includes Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation Protections

HRC responded to the passage of an historic U.S. House rules package that bans discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation for the first time ever. The package also ensures religious headgear can be worn in the House chamber.

“This is an historic moment for our country,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “For the first time ever, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity will be banned in the House of Representatives. This action to protect LGBTQ congressional employees from discrimination is the result of millions of Equality Voters going to the polls in November to ensure their voices were heard and demanding a Congress that looks like America.”

The new rules package was adopted yesterday as a pro-equality majority was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives. Speaker Pelosi has also announced that the Equality Act — a bill to provide comprehensive federal protections for LGBTQ people and HRC’s top federal legislative priority — will be a priority for the incoming Congress. Today, half of LGBTQ Americans live in states without clear, comprehensive protections for LGBTQ people, leaving millions vulnerable to discrimination in housing, employment, and other arenas.

HRC made an historic commitment to elect a pro-equality Congress in the 2018 midterm election.  In November of 2017, HRC launched HRC Rising, the largest grassroots expansion in the organization’s 38-year history. Since then, HRC has endorsed more than 480 pro-equality candidates nationwide and deployed 150 staff to organize and mobilize voters in more than 70 congressional, targeted senate and key statewide races across 23 states. HRC helped register more than and recruited more than 4,200 volunteers, who worked over 8,500 shifts and clocked more than 30,000 volunteer hours. In the critical final four days of the campaign, HRC staff and volunteers in get-out-the-vote efforts alone knocked on more than 80,000 doors and held 36,400 conversations with voters at their doors and by phone on behalf of our endorsed candidates.

www.hrc.org/blog/house-rules-package-includes-SOGI-protections?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

How The Government Shutdown Is Affecting Health Programs

There seems to be no end in sight for the current partial government shutdown, the third since the beginning of the Trump administration.

For the vast majority of the federal government’s public health efforts, though, it’s business as usual.

That’s because Congress has already passed five of its major appropriations bills, funding about three-fourths of the federal government, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But seven bills are outstanding — including those that fund the Interior, Agriculture and Justice departments — and that puts the squeeze on some important health-related initiatives.

The shutdown itself is not about health policies. It’s the result of differences of opinion between the administration and congressional Democrats regarding Trump’s so-called border wall. But it’s far-reaching, nonetheless. Here’s where things stand:

Funding for “big-ticket” health programs is already in place, alleviating much of the shutdown’s immediate potential impact.

Since HHS funding is set through September, the flagship government health care programs — think Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid — are insulated.

That’s also true of public health surveillance, like tracking the flu virus, a responsibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Institutes of Health, which oversees major biomedical research, is also fine. It’s a stark contrast to last January’s shutdown, which sent home about half of HHS’ staff.

But some other public health operations are vulnerable because of complicated funding streams.

Although the Food and Drug Administration falls under the HHS umbrella, it receives significant funding for its food safety operations through the spending bill for the Department of Agriculture, which is entirely caught up in the shutdown.

Last year, that tallied an estimated $2.9 billion to support among other things these FDA oversight efforts, which involve everything from food recalls to routine facility inspections and cosmetics regulation. Not having those dollars now means, according to the FDA contingency plan, that about 40 percent of the agency — thousands of government workers — is furloughed.

The FDA’s responsibilities for drug approval and oversight are funded by user fees and are generally not affected. Regulation of tobacco products is also continuing.

Health services for Native Americans are also on hold.

Because Congress has yet to approve funding for the Indian Health Service, which is run by HHS but gets its money through the Department of the Interior, IHS feels the full weight of the shutdown. The only services that can continue are those that meet “immediate needs of the patients, medical staff, and medical facilities,” according to the shutdown contingency plan.

That includes IHS-run clinics, which provide direct health care to tribes around the country. These facilities are open, and many staffers are reporting to work because they are deemed “excepted,” said Jennifer Buschik, an agency spokeswoman. But they will not be paid until Congress and the administration reach a deal.

Other IHS programs are taking a more direct hit. For example, the agency has suspended grants that support tribal health programs, as well as preventive health clinics run by the Office of Urban Indian Health Programs.

Public health efforts by Homeland Security and the EPA face serious constraints.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs assesses threats posed by infectious diseases, pandemics and biological and chemical attacks. It is supposed to be scaling back, according to the department’s shutdown contingency plan. This office is just one component of the 204-person Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, which is retaining about 65 employees during the funding gap.

Other DHS health workers are likely to work without pay — for instance, health inspectors at the border, said Peter Boogaard, who was an agency spokesman under the Obama administration. According to DHS’ plan, the vast majority of border patrol employees will continue working through the shutdown.

The Environmental Protection Agency has also run out of funding. According to its contingency plan, it’s keeping on more than 700 employees without pay, including those who work on Superfund sites or other activities where the “threat to life or property is imminent.” (More than 13,000 EPA workers have been furloughed.)

That limits the agency’s capacity for activities including inspecting water that people drink and regulating pesticides.

But it’s not just regulation. The public health stakes are visceral — and sometimes, frankly, pretty gross.

Just look at the National Park Service, which has halted restroom maintenance and trash service for lack of funding. On Sunday, Yosemite National Park in California closed its campgrounds. On Wednesday, Joshua Tree National Park, also in California, did the same.

Why? Per a park service press release: “The park is being forced to take this action for health and safety concerns as vault toilets reach capacity.”

By Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News

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How The Government Shutdown Is Affecting Health Programs