Violence against transgender women is on the rise. Last year, the transgender community was hit with the worst murder rate in recent history. We lost 26 transgender women. Most of the victims were Black and Latina trans women. This year, we have already lost three of our sisters due to transphobic violence. And we continue to be targeted by violence by the police state and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) state.
Undocumented trans women make the difficult journey to come to the United States because of the daily violence they face back in their home countries. It is so devastating to hear that ICE has detained Ms. Gonzalez, an undocumented trans woman, after she tried to seek protection from domestic violence in El Paso, Texas, last week. Ms. Gonzalez’s arrest by ICE is another clear example of the ways transgender women of color continue to be targeted and criminalized.
We as a community need to fight back and protect all undocumented immigrants, including transgender undocumented women, against deportation and detention.
No detention centers can guarantee the safety and protection of transgender undocumented women. There have been numerous reports of sexual and physical violations inside detention centers — including at the transgender pod in the Santa Ana City Jail, which is the country’s first official separate unit for trans people who are detained for immigration.
Last year, Human Rights Watch released an 80-page report entitled “Do You See How Much I’m Suffering Here?” It includes interviews and testimonies from transgender immigrant women about abuses that occurred in detention centers. It is important for people to understand that transgender undocumented women are subjected to harassment, physical abuse and sexual abuse while in detention. These cages cannot provide the protection that many ICE officials claim they do.
When ICE arrested Ms. Gonzalez, she was at the El Paso Courthouse in order to obtain a protective order against a man who was abusing her. (In fact, reports indicate that the abuser may well have been the person who informed ICE that Gonzalez would be at the courthouse that day.) As we navigate this hostile society, many of us seek protection to stop violence and abuse we experience in our lives. It is alarming that any one who is seeking protection from any type of abuse is met with an arrest and a possible order of deportation. This is state-sanctioned violence.
We have a moral responsibility to put an end to the torture and abuse of undocumented trans women. And we have an obligation to join in solidarity and protect Ms. Gonzalez.
This is a call to all caring people to listen and pay attention to what is happening to undocumented transgender women. We especially need the backing of the mainstream immigrant and LGBTQ communities right now. We are one of the most vulnerable populations, and we need real support from our communities and organizations. You have a duty to support Ms. Gonzalez, all the transgender undocumented women currently detained in immigration detention centers, and all undocumented immigrants, until we dismantle ICE and the police state.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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