U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ceased reporting the number of transgender individuals in its custody, a move that advocates argue undermines efforts to protect the safety of queer individuals within the nation’s immigration detention system. This change began in February 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump took office, when ICE stopped including these figures in its biweekly statistical reports, despite a 2021 mandate requiring such disclosures.
The decision to discontinue these reports coincides with significant rollbacks in the treatment of transgender detainees. ICE has eliminated care requirements in contracts with detention facilities and removed a 2015 memorandum that outlined the agency’s treatment of transgender individuals, originally authored by Thomas Homan, the current border czar. Additionally, an executive order from Trump mandates that individuals in federal facilities, including immigration detention, be housed according to their sex assigned at birth.
Advocates highlight that the lack of data reflects a broader pattern of erasing the experiences of marginalized individuals within the immigration system. According to Noelle Smart, principal research associate at the Vera Institute for Justice, the absence of these statistics makes it increasingly difficult for advocates to provide necessary support to transgender people in detention. She stated, “The harms of anti-immigrant and anti-trans policies and the harms of detention that are worsening under this administration are just all being compounded, and at a time where we have even less access to just the most basic statistics.”
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to inquiries regarding this matter. Some critics believe that the cessation of data reporting is part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to evade accountability as mass detention practices intensify, supported by significant budget increases and partnerships with for-profit prison companies.
A report released by Immigration Equality, a nonprofit organization serving LGBTQIA+ and HIV-positive migrants, detailed the abuses faced by queer individuals in federal immigration detention. The findings revealed that detainees often experience sexual and physical violence due to their identities, alongside solitary confinement and inadequate medical care, including denied access to HIV treatment. Bridget Crawford, director of law and policy at Immigration Equality, explained, “The vast majority of our cases are for LGBTQ+ or HIV-positive people, and the types that you just see across the board from so many places are incredibly high levels of torture, sexual abuse, sexual violence from families and communities.”
Beyond the U.S. borders, experts caution that anti-immigrant policies are also endangering individuals globally. Trump’s executive order that halted refugee resettlement has placed countless queer individuals fleeing violence in perilous situations. Immigration Equality’s recent report highlighted the harrowing stories of a lesbian couple fleeing Afghanistan, a gay man from Uganda trapped in Kenya, and a stateless trans woman in Saudi Arabia. Notably, a Somali trans woman named Camilla was murdered shortly after resettlement efforts were paused, having spent six years in a conversion camp in Kenya.
Crawford further noted that the plight of queer migrants has led many to reconsider the U.S. as a destination for safety. Senna Seniuk from Rainbow Railroad indicated that among those with options, the U.S. is becoming a lower priority. “For folks who have some level of choice about where they may be able to safely get to, I would say that the U.S. is a lower priority,” she said. “We’ll also still see folks arriving here who have no other options.”
The visibility of LGBTQIA+ migrant issues has increased since the death of Roxana Hernández, a trans woman who died in ICE custody in 2018 after suffering from untreated HIV. Her passing, attributed to AIDS-related complications, sparked outrage among advocates who highlighted systemic failures in ICE’s treatment of transgender individuals.
Reports of mistreatment continue to surface, with numerous incidents drawing attention to the ongoing abuse within detention facilities. A trans woman held at Guantánamo Bay alleged she was forced to bathe and use the restroom in front of male guards and was denied contact with family or legal representation. Another trans woman filed a federal lawsuit against immigration officials in January, claiming she was subjected to solitary confinement and harassment at a New York detention center.
One high-profile case involved Andry Hernández, a gay Venezuelan asylum-seeker who was wrongfully labeled as a gang member and detained in a notorious prison in El Salvador. After months of suffering in this dangerous environment, Hernández was released in July during a prisoner swap, yet he returned to Venezuela, the very place he fled due to homophobic violence.
The current situation underscores the urgent need for advocacy and reform in the U.S. immigration system, particularly regarding the treatment of LGBTQIA+ individuals. The absence of critical data on transgender detainees poses significant challenges for those working to ensure safety and justice for this vulnerable population.
