Transgender asylum seekers

Transgender asylum seekers are transgender persons seeking refuge in another country due to stigmatization or persecution in their home countries, including physical and sexual assault, torture, "conversion therapy" practices, and even imprisonment. They may be fleeing from state-sponsored discrimination or from social isolation. Transgender people face challenges in the asylum process not experienced by others.

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Countries of origin

Transgender persons may have experienced "severe persecution" in the countries they have fled, even where anti-transgender laws do not exist.[1]: 8–9  In one 1999 case, a transgender woman only avoided deportation from the United States after her attorney invoked the United Nations Convention against Torture, making the case that "Amanda was subject to torture under the color of law" in Nicaragua.[2]: 409  In another 1999 case, a transgender man was granted asylum in the United States under the reasoning that he would be a "social pariah" in Iraq.[2]: 407 

In 2017, Amnesty International released a report on LGBTI people seeking asylum in Mexico, describing El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as being "no safe place" for transgender people.[3] A 2020 public health review determined that transgender women seeking asylum from Mexico were fleeing a situation of "extreme vulnerability."[4]: 6 

Treatment while seeking asylum

In some cases, transgender asylum seekers are at greater risk than others offered refugee status. Although seeking asylum for sexual orientation or gender identity can constitute viable grounds for an asylum claim, "proving" one's identity can be particularly challenging for transgender asylum seekers. Adjudicators often rely on outdates, medicalized notions of what it means to be transgender, and usually require transgender asylum seekers to desire, seek out, or obtain, some sort of medical procedure before approval. In 2022 the United Kingdom arranged for Rwanda to absorb asylum seekers in a highly controversial policy.[5][6] While this policy has yet to be fully implemented, transgender asylum seekers would be at greater risk in Rwanda than in the United Kingdom due to Rwanda's prosecution of transgender people.[7][8]

Transgender people may also be at risk while detained in the countries in which they seek asylum. NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Transgender Europe, and the National Center for Transgender Equality have reported cases of rape and abuse of transgender people in UK, US, Norwegian, and Greek facilities for asylum seekers.[9] In the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement places transgender asylum seekers in a "transgender pod" where there is a lack of medical and mental health services.[10][11]

Asylum outcomes

When denied asylum, there have been reports of adverse outcomes for transgender persons.[12][13][14] According to the ASPIDH Rainbow Trans Association, a transgender woman seeking asylum in the United States was killed in El Salvador weeks after her request was denied.[12] Transgender persons may still face difficulties after being granted asylum because of their gender identity.[15] The Williams Institute reported in 2022 that transgender asylum seekers may be disproportionately harmed by detention practices and face sustained mental health challenges as a result.[16]

Globally, asylum laws leave LGBT refugee detainees "particularly susceptible to heightened levels of physical and mental abuse."[1]: 2  Transgender refugees in particular suffer from inadequate access to hormone therapy while in the asylum process. In the United States, for example, transgender refugees may only receive hormone treatment if they were already undergoing such treatments before being detained.[1]: 37  This lack of access may make them more visible during transition and hence more readily targeted for transphobic abuse.[1]: 17 

Since 2000, the United States has recognized transgender asylum seekers as a social group that deserves protection on the basis of gender identity.[17] Despite this, transgender asylum seekers are sometimes disqualified under the United States' criminalization of prostitution even if they are not engaged in criminal activity.[18]: 271–2  The United States' requirement that transgender refugees prove their identity also disadvantages them in the refugee process as many refugees are unable to begin transitioning until arriving in the United States.[19][20]: 163 

Some U.S. political activists have sought to improve conditions for transgender asylum seekers.[21]

See also

References
  1. Tabak, Shana; Levitan, Rachel (2014). "LGBTI Migrants in Immigration Detention: A Global Perspective". Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. 37 (1) – via NCJRS.
  2. Mohyuddin, Fatima (2001). "United States Asylum Law in the Context of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Justice for the Transgendered". Hastings Journal on Gender and the Law. 12 (2): 387.
  3. "Americas: 'No safe place': Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans seeking asylum in Mexico based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity". Amnesty International. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  4. Cheney, Marshall K.; Gowin, Mary J.; Taylor, E. Laurette; Frey, Melissa; Dunnington, Jamie; Alshuwaiyer, Ghadah; Huber, J. Kathleen; Garcia, Mary Camero; Wray, Grady C. (2017). "Living Outside the Gender Box in Mexico: Testimony of Transgender Mexican Asylum Seekers". American Journal of Public Health. 107 (10): 1646–1652. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303961. PMC 5607674. PMID 28817317.
  5. Nawaz, Amna; Warsi, Zeba; Aranda, Teresa Cerbian (15 June 2022). "UK tries to press ahead with controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda". PBS News. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  6. "U.K. to start controversial program flying asylum-seekers to Rwanda". CBS News. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  7. Milton, Josh (15 April 2022). "LGBT+ Rwandans face bogus arrests, violent abuse and rape in terrifying detention centre". PinkNews. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  8. Review of asylum processing Rwanda: assessment (PDF). London: Home Office. 2022. pp. 13–14.
  9. Savage, Rachel (18 July 2019). "Trans asylum seekers assaulted, abused in U.S., UK, Norway detention". Reuters. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  10. Johnson, Sylvia (9 July 2019). "The Untold Story of Trans ICE Detention". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  11. "The Precarious Position of Transgender Immigrants and Asylum Seekers". Human Rights Campaign. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  12. Renteria, Nelson (22 February 2019). "Trans asylum-seeker killed after U.S. deportation back to El Salvador". Reuters. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  13. "Death of transgender asylum seeker in Guatemala highlights increased risks and protection needs for LGBTI community". UNHCR. 6 August 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  14. "US: LGBT Asylum Seekers in Danger at the Border". Human Rights Watch. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  15. Hennessy-Fiske, Molly (5 October 2020). "'She was really a warrior': Transgender migrant reaches U.S. only to die". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  16. Shaw, Ari; Verghese, Namrata (7 July 2022). "LGBTQI+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers". The Williams Institute. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  17. Cory, Connor (2019). "The LGBTQ Asylum Seeker: Particular Social Groups and Authentic Queer Identities". Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. 20 (3). 578 and footnote 2.
  18. Medina, Luis (2017). "Immigrating While Trans: The Disproportionate Impact of the Prostitution Ground of Inadmissibility and Other Provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act on Transgender Women". St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice. 19 (3): 253.
  19. Vogler, Stefan (2019). "Determining Transgender: Adjudicating Gender Identity in U.S. Asylum Law". Gender & Society. 33 (3): 439–462. doi:10.1177/0891243219834043. S2CID 151176794.
  20. Leonard, Marnie (2022). "A Particular Social Group: The Inadequacy of U.S. Asylum Laws for Transgender Claimants". Human Rights Brief. 25 (2).
  21. Valentine, Brittany (4 March 2021). "A new call to release transgender ICE detainees gains momentum nationwide". Al Día News. Retrieved 3 October 2022.

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