LGBT+ asylum claimants are being left in limbo by Trump administration
(Photo by SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
The hostile immigration restrictions introduced by the Trump administration have “terrified” LGBT+ asylum claimants, says the head of a top US NGO.
The revised version of Trump’s travel ban has spelt disaster for people residing in the US who are from one of the six countries that made the final cut in the discriminatory bill.
For the likes of Mohamed, time is running out.
President Donald Trump (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty)
The gay man from Syria applied for asylum in 2014 and has still not been granted a working visa renewal.
“The number of LGBT people who make it through the system alive and request resettlement is small, it does not even reach the tip of the percentage of LGBTQI people that are represented in the international population,” Neil Grungas, executive director of the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration told TeleSUR.
“People are just absolutely terrified to come out, and rightly so, they will be dead, they will be dead if they come out,” Grungas said. “The consequence is severe hardship for people who’ve already fled some horrific trauma.”
LGBT+ asylum seekers (Getty)
Even before the visa restrictions came into play, LGBT+ refugees were frequently turned down for a valid visa owing to factors such as lack of employment, family ties, and low homeownership rates, reported TeleSUR.
President Donald Trump attempted to ban people seeking refuge in the US from entering the country from seven countries.
Gay asylum seekers (Getty)
The nations, which have a Muslim-majority population, were subject to a travel ban.
The consequences of this executive order reverberated internationally.
More than 700 travelers were detained, and up to 60,000 visas were “provisionally revoked” after the order was issued.
Activists protest against Trump’s “travel ban” (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP/Getty Images)
According to a study conducted by the Williams Institute in 2015, an estimated 190,000 undocumented adult LGBT immigrants from Latin America — mostly from Central America — are also residing in the United States.
They face heightened levels of harassment, discrimination, physical and psychological abuse, often even from their family and community, reported TeleSUR.
The Trump administration separated 2,342 children from 2,206 parents along the US-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9, reported Mother Jones.
