LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in the US have shared their ‘disgusting’ experiences in ICE custody

LGBTQ+ asylum seekers have shared their gruelling experiences as detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, as part of a new report.

An analysis into the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive individuals while in US federal immigration jails revealed that almost one in three of those interviewed were sexually assaulted, and almost all were harassed because of their sexuality.

Not-for-profit organisation Immigration Equality, which published the report, added that roughly half the participants (20 of 41) were subjected to solitary confinement.

Bridget Crawford, Immigration Equality’s director of law and policy, told independent publication The 19th that ICE detention centres were a “critical lifeline” for LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing “unimaginable violence and torture”, adding: “Their experience in detention compounds the trauma that many of these queer and trans asylum seekers faced in their home country.”

One of those participants, Nikolai, described his time in custody as “completely disgusting” and he felt treated as “second class”. Diagnosed with depression prior to his detainment, he claimed that he was denied antidepressant medication by jail staff despite his mental health deteriorating.

“Imagine sitting in jail and not getting your medication,” he told the researchers. “You’re feeling worse and worse and worse.”

Upon entering the detainment centre in San Diego, California, Nikolai noted that certain cells had the words “HIV”, “gay,” and “transgender” written on the doors. Conditions were “like a zoo” and little was done to hide the identities of queer or HIV-positive detainees, leaving them open to abuse.

Another detainee, a trans woman called Tara, claimed that the guards “beat us like dogs” and that, after being outed, “the other detainees also beat me”.

She was reportedly laughed at and mocked when she asked to speak to a lawyer and was told the only way she could leave was through a deportation order.

Four of the 41 participants reported “outright hostility” from ICE staff when asserting their right to legal representation, and seven said they did not even know they were allowed to contact a lawyer.

Sexual harassment and abuse have also been found to be prevalent within ICE custody centres. A study for the research and advocacy group the Center for American Progress in 2018 revealed that, while LGBTQ+ people make up just 0.14 per cent of detainees, they are the victims of 12 per cent of the sexual abuse cases.

Eighteen participants in the latest research reported being sexual abused or physically assaulted, including Karina, who alleged that she was attacked be a male inmate in the shower after being incarcerated in a men’s detention unit.

After reporting the sexual assault, she was taken to hospital to prove she had “really [been] raped” and was forced to undress in front of a male immigration officer.

After experiencing a mental-health crisis following the ordeal, she was put in solitary confinement, she claimed.

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