“Do You See How Much I'm Suffering Here?”
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HUMAN “Do You See How Much RIGHTS I’m Suffering Here?” WATCH Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention “Do You See How Much I’m Suffering Here?” Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention Copyright © 2016 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-33320 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org MARCH 2016 ISBN: 978-1-6231-33320 “Do You See How Much I’m Suffering Here?” Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention Glossary .............................................................................................................................. i Monserrath’s Story ........................................................................................................... iii Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 4 Background ........................................................................................................................ 6 US Immigration Law ................................................................................................................. 6 Mandatory Custody .................................................................................................................. 7 Immigration Detention under Obama ....................................................................................... 9 Transgender Immigrant Detention under Obama ..................................................................... 10 Human Rights Abuses against Transgender Women in the US .................................................. 13 Transgender Women and the Call for Alternatives to Detention ................................................ 16 I. Sexual Assault of Transgender Women in Men’s Detention Facilities ........................... 19 II. Abuse and Ill-Treatment in Segregated Detention ................................................. 26 Strip Searches by Male Guards .............................................................................................. 28 III. Lockdowns and Solitary Confinement ................................................................... 32 Lockdowns and Solitary Confinement at Santa Ana ................................................................. 38 IV. Medical and Mental Health Care ............................................................................41 Access to HIV Medication and HIV-Related Care ...................................................................... 42 Access to Gender-Affirming Care ............................................................................................. 45 Access to Routine and Emergency Medical Care ...................................................................... 47 V. Alternatives to Detention ....................................................................................... 51 VI. US Law and International Human Rights Obligations ............................................ 54 Immigration Detention ............................................................................................................ 54 Solitary Confinement .............................................................................................................. 56 Sexual Assault and Degrading and Humiliating Treatment ....................................................... 58 Medical Care .......................................................................................................................... 59 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 62 To the United States Congress ............................................................................................... 62 To the Department of Homeland Security ................................................................................ 63 To Immigration and Customs Enforcement .............................................................................. 63 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 66 Annexes I-IV ..................................................................................................................... 68 Glossary Bisexual: Sexual orientation of a person who is sexually and romantically attracted to both males and females. Cisgender: The gender identity of people whose birth gender (which they were declared to have upon birth) conforms to their lived and/or perceived gender (the gender that they are most comfortable with expressing or would express given a choice). Gay: Used here to refer to the sexual orientation of a male whose primary sexual and romantic attraction is toward other males. Gender: Social and cultural codes (as opposed to biological sex) used to distinguish between what a society considers “masculine” or “feminine” conduct. Gender identity: A person’s internal, deeply felt sense of being female or male, both, or something other than female and male. A person’s gender identity does not necessarily correspond to the biological sex assigned at birth. Heterosexual: A person whose primary sexual and romantic attraction or sexual orientation is toward people of the opposite sex. Homophobia: Fear and contempt of homosexuals, usually based on negative stereotypes of homosexuality. Homosexual: Sexual orientation of a person whose primary sexual and romantic attractions are toward people of the same sex. LGBT/LGBTI: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, (and intersex); an inclusive term for groups and identities sometimes associated together as “sexual minorities.” Lesbian: Sexual orientation of a female whose primary sexual and romantic attraction is toward other females. I Sexual orientation: The way a person’s sexual and romantic desires are directed. The term describes whether a person is attracted primarily to people of the same sex, the opposite sex, or to both. Transgender: The gender identity of people whose birth gender (which they were declared to have upon birth) does not conform to their lived and/or perceived gender (the gender that they are most comfortable with expressing or would express given a choice). A transgender person usually adopts, or would prefer to adopt, a gender expression in consonance with their preferred gender but may or may not desire to permanently alter their bodily characteristics in order to conform to their preferred gender. II Monserrath’s Story Us trans women, we come here fleeing from our countries. They don’t have to detain us. Migration [ICE] is cruel with us trans women. — Monserrath López, a 23-year-old transgender woman from Honduras, detained for about six months by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).1 On the evening of September 20, 2014, Monserrath was walking through a public park in Copán, Honduras, listening to music and enjoying an ice cream when four masked men suddenly appeared and beat her unconscious.2 She woke up several hours later in an unknown location. There, the same men beat her and forced her to perform oral sex on all of them; one sheared off her hair with pair of scissors while describing how he planned to torture and kill her. He told her, “We’re going to cut you up. […] Even your family won’t be able to find you.”3 Fearing for her life, Monserrath spent the next three months making her way toward the United States through Mexico, where she said other migrants repeatedly raped and abused her. She arrived at the US Port of Entry in Eagle Pass, Texas, on December 12, 2014, where she presented herself to US Border Patrol agents and requested asylum. She was then held in isolation for four days at a Border Patrol station. On the fifth day, she was handcuffed, shackled, and forced to board a bus to a men’s detention center in Pearsall, Texas, where she was held for six months—despite disclosing to officials that she identified as a transgender woman. Monserrath said guards and male detainees repeatedly sexually assaulted and verbally harassed her while she was in detention, and denied her access to medically necessary hormone replacement therapy. In one instance, after reporting to facility staff that a male detainee had sexually assaulted her while she was showering, a guard responded by 1. Human Rights Watch interview with Monserrath López, Houston, Texas, July 7, 2015. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. III threatening to place her in solitary confinement. She was released from detention and granted asylum in May 2015.4 4. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Kennedy Granger, immigration attorney, San Antonio, Texas, May 21, 2015. IV Summary Do you