“Yesterday, FAMILIA: Queer Trans Liberation Movement & DeColores Queer Orange County staged a protest at the Santa Ana City Jail in Orange County, California over the detention and incarceration of LGBTQ immigrants. The Santa Ana jail houses a “GBT pod” for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) where transgender women and cisgender queer men are detained. Transgender women, many of whom are asylum seekers, within this supposedly “trans-friendly” unit have reported “being told by guards to ‘use their male voice’ and ‘act male’ on an almost daily basis.” (see: Huffington Post Article)
Transgender Law Center’s Immigration Detention Project works closely with many of the organizers and activists involved with the event and helped free Valeria de La Luz, a trans woman from Mexico who is featured in this video. Transgender Law Center Soros Justice Fellow Olga Tomchin joined in the vigil for the five arrested queer and trans protestors while they were jailed. This protest and Transgender Law Center are both part of the Not1More Deportation campaign. You can read more on the Not1More website.