In response to the Trump administration’s announcement that they will be forcing people seeking asylum to wait in Mexico throughout their proceedings, deputy director Isa Noyola of Transgender Law Center (TLC), the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures, issued the following statement:
This plan to force people to remain in Mexico while they seek asylum is breathtaking in its cruelty. The announcement is made in the wake of news that two Honduran teenagers were murdered outside of a migrant shelter in Tijuana and that a little girl died in Customs and Border Protection custody. It’s not surprising that amidst calls for oversight and accountability that the Trump administration deflects scrunity by making the most callous policy decision to date, affecting the lives of countless immigrants seeking safety and protection in the United States.
Among the people seeking asylum are queer and transgender people, victims of human trafficking, and people who need life-saving medication. Forcing them to remain in Mexico during their asylum proceedings drastically increases the likelihood they will be harmed. While it appears there is a provision that would allow people to remain in the United States if they can prove they would be in danger in Mexico, with the disregard for the law and lack of basic human decency immigration enforcement has shown, it does not lesson our concerns.
Transgender Law Center will continue to fight for the rights of queer and transgender immigrants to seek protection in the United States, whether that fight takes us to the courts or to the streets.