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.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We’re presently working to find 1500 new monthly donors to Truthout before the end of the year.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy