LGBTQ+ IMMIGRANTS STRUGGLE UNDER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

Moving to New York City from Chicago in March 2019 was one of the toughest and most difficult decisions that I have ever had to make, I moved without any resources, a difficult decision for someone who had just gotten out of a traumatic experience in immigration detention where I spent three traumatic and horrible months. I was homeless the first two weeks in New York and was forced to move to a city shelter, which was retraumatizing for me as some experiences reminded me of my detention experiences.

Queer and Trans immigrants seeking asylum experience unimaginable violence in their countries and on the dangerous journey to the U.S. we come to the United States to find safety, protection and freedom but instead we are met with more violence and cruelty, punished for asserting our right to seek asylum, and while communities and grassroots organizations are fighting changes in immigration law and local policies, those efforts are based on a narrative centered on families, defined through a
heteronormative lens. A “family,” according to the immigrant movement, consists of a cis-gender mother, a cis-gender father, and their biological children. The narrow focus of that narrative means that LGBTQIA+ immigrants lack a platform to advocate for resources specific to their needs because most of us don’t have our biological families here. LGBTQ+ immigrants in detention are often denied access to critical medical care such as HIV testing and treatment, as well as hormone therapy. In recent years, three HIV+ trans women died in detention due to medical neglect, those deaths were followed by multiple accounts from QDEP’s members regarding denial by ICE of medical treatment for HIV or hormone therapy. Many of our members were released from ICE detention with terrible health conditions due to ICE’s medical neglet.

I am still pained and heartbroken over the death of QDEP member Faby Federick who’s death was in connection with the trauma she experienced in immigration detention, that added to the mental health impacts she faced in her home country as a black trans woman. Faby was an amazing, inspiring, motivating human with a smile that would light up a room, I remember the first time I met Faby in person during one of our members meeting: she was so excited to be with a community that affirmed her and appreciated her for existing after one year in ICE custody. I got to know more about Faby’s experience in immigration detention when I got to speak with her more often.

Every year the US spends over 2 billion taxpayer money on detaining immigrants in over 200 detention facilities. That money should be invested in our communities, more jobs, and affordable housing for black and brown communities, and especially immigrant communities. The US politicians should take full responsibility for the death of all the trans women, kids, and parents, and do the right thing by shutting down all the detention centers and freeing everyone.

Oliver J. Dunbar was a member of QDEP, a Black gay migrant from Jamaica who was detained for more than two years. After living in the United States for more than 40 years, Oliver was arrested at his family home in New Jersey, detained, and eventually transferred more than a thousand miles away from his family and loved ones to the Krome Detention Center in Miami. In detention, Oliver was harassed and assaulted, and when he requested essential care for medical issues stemming from this abuse, ICE denied him treatment. ICE and the Biden administration could have released Oliver at any time to return to New Jersey and be with his family, but instead, they deported him back to a homophobic country he hadn’t visited in more than four decades. He deserved to stay in the country he calls home.

Paul White is a Black bisexual migrant who has lived in the United States for over 21 years. He is an entrepreneur with a passion for cooking, his dream is to open a food truck, serving meals and snacks from his home country. Paul has some health issues, including type 2 diabetes and hypertension, he also struggles with depression and anxiety. Paul has a young daughter, who is a U.S. citizen and misses him, as well as friends, family, and the entire community is in the United States. He’s currently detained by ICE at the Caroline Detention Center in Virginia, since August 2020, and is facing imminent deportation to a very homophobic country that he hadn’t been to for decades.

Jorge Rondon-Torrealba is originally from Venezuela but has been living in the United States since he was three years old and calls NYC his home. He is a former DACA recipient and proud member of the queer community. Despite his bright future, ICE took away his DACA status and he is currently detained at Krome ICE Facility in Miami where he continues to fight for his release. Jorge has a right to seek asylum in the United States due to his queer identity and fear of persecution in Venezuela, yet ICE blatantly disregards his vulnerability and right to fight his case by refusing to release him while his immigration case is pending. ICE shackled him for over 13 hours, and transferred him from a Pennsylvania detention center to a detention center in Louisiana, and then to the Krome ICE facility in Miami. Since the United States has banned flights into Venezuela, Jorge faces the possibility of indefinite detention.

And with all the struggles that LGBTQ+ immigrants have to deal with, including the trauma of incarceration by ICE, applying for asylum based on sexual orientation is the only way for some of them to legalize their status. Currently, those who apply for asylum based on sexual orientation must do so within a year of entering the country. This disproportionately disadvantages queer and trans immigrants, many of whom are unaware of the asylum provision or are recovering from torture and persecution.

As a Black, gay man from Nigeria who experienced dehumanizing conditions in ICE detention, including life-threatening events as a result of being denied medical treatments, mental and emotional anguish leading to suicide attempts, and no subsequent access to mental health services, I cannot overstate the importance I place on my role in advocating for Black and all LGBTQ+ immigrants’ lives. As someone with the lived experience, I strive to give my community a voice so they can lead and specifically address the issues impacting their lives and well-being. I still live with the trauma of being shacked on my legs to my waist, and hands and taken to detention on my arrival at the airport, even when I was sick in detention to the point of almost losing my life I was again chained and taken to a hospital and was chained to the hospital bed in detention, and I was given a bowl to urinate inside while on chains.

I may have a job, an apartment, dress well and some money to live but in silence, I suffer a lot mentally as a result of this system. Most times I get into an airplane traveling I start shedding tears because I know the airplane can go everywhere in the US but can’t go anywhere else outside the US.

The Biden administration has continued on Trump’s legacy of racist attacks against black immigrants under title 42, we all saw it happen last year when 14,000 Haitian migrants were tortured at the border and expelled, and 76,000 Afghanistans were welcomed into this country and over 100,000 Ukrainians will be admitted. So the law is good for some people but not people that look like me (Black).

As you are celebrating pride this year remember that there are LGBTQ+ immigrants in detention that should be here with us to celebrate pride too but ICE chooses to cage them. Remember organizations like the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project and do not forget to support this organization this pride month and every other month; remember those in hostile and homophobic countries and support international grassroots organizations.

We should keep the fight and never rest until LGBTQ+ immigrants and asylum seekers are protected.

We should continue to hold this administration accountable until they fulfill their promise of protecting queer and trans immigrants and asylum seekers because it has been over a year since Biden publicly made a promise that he will protect LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers but he has done nothing to fulfill that promise.

I call the US government to listen to everybody and make reforms that do not increase funding, staffing, or legitimacy to prison but work towards freeing everyone.

“HAPPY PRIDE”