When Systems of Oppression Intersect Part II: Transphobia and the Immigration System
By Deputy Editor Thea Lim
**TRIGGER WARNING**: The following post is about physical and sexual abuse in detention, and focuses on a trans woman who has chosen to speak out about the abuse she endured. Her choice is incredibly brave and her story is deeply distressing.
Restore Fairness has a post about Esmeralda, a trans woman from Mexico who came to the US to seek asylum, only to endure sexual abuse in an American immigration detention centre. Her story, like many others, speaks to the way that the immigration system intersects with other forms of oppression, often in an unspeakably cruel and dehumanising way.
The Restore Fairness article states:
Transferred far away from their homes and families, stories are rife of how detainees are denied visitation, access to lawyers, medical care, and are subject to physical and verbal abuse. Many vulnerable people, including asylum seekers, pregnant women, children, lawful permanent residents and even U.S. citizens are among those detained.
Listen to Esmeralda’s voice of courage and take action now to fix a broken detention system.
The article also links to the website of Just Detention International, an organisation that works to end the sexual abuse of detainees in the US and internationally. Esmeralda’s story is in included among their Portraits of Courage, a section of their website where people who have survived sexual and physical abuse in detention, are speaking out – often in spite of the threat of severe retalitation – to try and put a stop to the horrific abuses that go on in detention. Not surprisingly, many of the people who took part in Portraits of Courage are queer people of colour.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
atlasien wrote:
I’m in awe of this woman’s bravery.
I clicked on the Restore Fairness link and sent the form email… it seems like such a small thing to do, but if enough people hear about this, legislation will eventually be influenced.
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 11:22 am ¶
Nicole wrote:
I am glad that she had the courage to speak out and I hope that it helps reach peoples hearts and make them more aware of this issue.
As trans people alone, the justice system is a very problematic and dangerous prospect. To also be a PoC and immigration status can only exponentially increase the risk.
My girlfriend is from Mexico and is currently in between a student visa and trying to get a work visa. It is a big worry that she might get deported or detained and it interferes with her ability to transition and even if I manage to get my gender marker changed to female, and we tried to get married as a ‘hetero’ couple, my being trans would disqualify the marriage from counting towards immigration from what I have read.
Not that I am that interested in a faux hetero marriage or any of that, but the other option for marriage would be wait for Texas to recognize gay marriage. XD
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 12:22 pm ¶
Adrienne wrote:
Zero tolerance policies in prisons would benefit ALL men and women. You don’t even have to identify as gay to be treated this way. Prison rape of all men and women has to be ended.
It would make sense that many who speak out are not heterosexual.
It made me think of a man I know who as childof 15 years old ended up locked up in Rikkers Island over a rape accusation while waiting for trial. He identified as heterosexual but was raped anyway…because prison is about the strong attacking the weak, no matter the weakness…physical size, sexual orientation, gender orientation change, being a minor et cetera.
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 5:29 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
I heard about this via Twitter earlier in the month. I’m so glad for this post, Thea. Oh, and thanks to atlasien for the heads-up about clicking the post link.
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 9:35 pm ¶
Leezel wrote:
Damn, Nicole I’m sorry to hear that. So, I suppose a move to CT would be out of the question?
Thank goodness, she had the courage and strength to basically say: THIS IS HAPPENING & WHAT ARE YOU (THE U.S.) GOING TO DO TO STOP IT
I wish I had more of an answer of how to go about stopping the brutality that woc immigrants. I think a positive start would be giving these women a voice and sanctuary from abuse. What happens to these women is just as brutal and dehumanizing and illegal as what happens to American white women of a certain class (for example, the central park jogger). We need to treat their rapes in such a manner.
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 10:13 pm ¶
Leezel wrote:
Geesh, I am the queen of typos.
*I wish I had more of an answer of how to go about stopping the brutality that woc immigrants face.
Posted 13 Nov 2009 at 10:15 pm ¶
Westerly wrote:
The hierarchy of bodies and cultural experience continues – male over female, heterosexual over any other type of body, cissexual over transgender, English-speaking over non-English speaking, rich over poor while the young and able bodied are also privileged over those who aren’t and so forth.
Time and time again people don’t recognise the potential abuse and disempowerment that immigrants face and how the process is further complicated if your identity strays from the ‘norm’, across categories.
Immigration can really lay bare this type of ranking.
On the one hand a blanket human rights approach (zero tolerance for rape in prisons as Adrienne alludes to) would certainly help and might forgo some of the problems involved in reaching ‘hearts’ or swaying the unempathtetic, disinterested or downright hostile.
And even when these institutions aren’t abusive and bigoted, then they’re negligent and aren’t constructed in a way to recognise the realities and specific needs of ‘non-default’ human beings.
Posted 14 Nov 2009 at 10:20 pm ¶
evita wrote:
She is amazing and we are blessed to have heard her truth.
Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 4:56 pm ¶
Lola wrote:
she is very brave
Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 6:57 pm ¶