Trangender Asylee Speaks Out About Immigrant Detention
// November 12th, 2009 // Immigration
Courage comes in many different forms. For Esmeralda a transgender asylum seeker from Mexico who faced horrific circumstances in immigration detention, it came in the form of seeking justice. Kept in a segregated cell with other transgender detainees, Esmeralda never realized that her experience in detention would match the trauma of discrimination she had faced back home. But her story is also one of hope for change.
While the Obama administration has pledged to reform the detention system, its promises do not go far enough. Spread over a patchwork of more than 500 county jails, privately run prisons and federal facilities, immigration detention is a $1.8 billion business estimated to hold 442,941 detainees in custody in 2009 alone.
Transferred far away from their homes and families, stories are rife of how detainees are denied visitation, access to lawyers, medical care, and are subject to physical and verbal abuse. Many vulnerable people, including asylum seekers, pregnant women, children, lawful permanent residents and even U.S. citizens are among those detained.
Listen to Esmeralda’s voice of courage and take action now to fix a broken detention system.
Crossposted from Restore Fairness
5 Responses to “Trangender Asylee Speaks Out About Immigrant Detention”
Leave a Reply
- Ab Deviller said: I want to see Bipasha & larra dutta in Lesbian...
- Karen said: I know what you mean. I am a (former) DREAMer who ...
- Prerna said: http://www.dreamactivist.org/support-dream-act-tsh...
- david said: I'm a white male and I often get treated the same ...
- Maegan la Mala Ortiz said: This person has a very bad habit of talking about ...
- Prerna Lal said: I think it might be that I have more fans on Twitt...
- A Fijian Miss Idaho Teen USA 2010
- Airport Travel Tips for Undocumented Immigrants
- My Coming Out Story - Growing Up Gay in Fiji
- Top 5 Bollywood Lesbian Icons
- Coming out in the New York Times
Very sad video…
It hit me really hard at the part where she said she was getting a sexual abuse by an immigration official as her hands and her feet are tied…
Whats the latest with Dream Act 2009?
Well, first it is migrating to just dreamact.com
Then, it is going to be with a comprehensive immigration bill in 2010.
And if that fails, we try stand-alone.
It's very sad to see that human beings are getting treated this way. Can any of us honestly say that this is right? This is NOT how someone should be treated, no matter where they come from. Yes, they did come to our country illegally and they were caught, but does that give us the right to torture and abuse them. This is almost a form of racism because of the things we are doing to them, and for what, being an immigrant, being different from us? I just think we are all hypocrites. How can we be Americans, whom stand for peace, justice, and equality, yet we have no problem detaining people and doing horrible things to them. It really breaks my heart to hear that this young women, Esmeralda, was tied down and sexually abused by one of OUR officials,but does it matter since she will never be helped, because she is an immigrant. So much for justice.
Yep.