Transgender Law Center and the Law Offices of Earnest Bailey win motion to terminate Chin’s immigration proceedings
Today Transgender Law Center (TLC) and the Law Offices of Earnest Bailey won a motion to terminate Chin Tsui’s immigration proceedings. Chin is a trans man from Hong Kong who has been detained in immigration prisons for over two years. The government has thirty days to appeal this decision, but his legal team is pushing for Chin to be released as soon as possible.
“Chin deserves to live and heal with his family,” said Lynly Egyes, Transgender Law Center’s Legal Director. “Thanks to the advocacy of countless supporters, he will be able to return home soon. This victory is fuel for our campaign as we continue to fight to shut down immigration prisons and advocate for the release of all LGBTQ migrants and people living with HIV.”
In December, TLC launched the #BringChinHome campaign and thousands signed a petition asking the government to reconsider his case based on the fact that he was a survivor of human trafficking. Unfortunately, LGBTQ people are rarely screened for human trafficking. Chin had previously lost his cancellation of removal case and was at risk of being deported because of convictions that were a result of being forced to engage in illegal activity.
Earlier this year, Chin expressed his gratitude for the “huge outpouring of support: “Thank you so much to everyone who has sent an email to ICE requesting that I be released and thank you to all of the people who have shared on social media. I want you all to know how grateful I am.”
Chin’s experiences at Irwin County Detention Center were documented in a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The complaint featured his testimony and that of 18 other LGBTQ migrants and people living with HIV who had experienced medical neglect at eight different immigration prisons.
TLC’s Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP), who signed on to the complaint and supported the #BringChinHome campaign, has been organizing and advocating for the release of all LGBTQ migrants currently in detention.
“We at BLMP are ecstatic to hear that the fight for the release of our trans sibling Chin is coming to a close,” said Oluchi Omeoga, national organizer with BLMP. “We lift up and thank all of the organizing that folks all over the globe have done to bring visibility to trans migrants. There is still work to be done; we urge folks to mobilize for Sza Sza, a Jamaican trans woman who has been imprisoned for almost a decade, and to fight to end trans detention across the country.”
You can read more about Sza Sza’s story here.