NEW YORK - Fundamentally unsafe, that's how New York immigrant advocates describe daily life for people in detention who identify as gay, lesbian or transgender.

Detention staff attorney Clement Lee with the group Immigration Equality says people who flee to the U.S. border because they fear persecution based on sexual identity almost always end up being placed in detention by Homeland Security.

The cruel irony is, these asylum-seekers end up in unsafe detention conditions because of their sexual identity. Lee says transgender people are 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted in immigration detention.

"Gay men are 10 times more likely to face sexual assault," says Lee. "If the Department of Homeland Security can't detain lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people safely, it should not detain them at all. "

Lee says the system is so overloaded that asylum cases that begin this year likely will not be resolved until 2018 at the earliest, putting LGBT detainees at significant risk. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is on record saying it is committed to developing new standards to protect vulnerable detainees.

Jamila Hammami, executive director with the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, says the Department of Homeland Security has a strict quota to fill more than 400 beds in New York every night. She says that provides a perverse incentive for law enforcement to detain immigrants for very minor offenses.

"There are so many stories of queer youth jumping turnstiles to get on the train, and then ending up in immigration detention and then in deportation - which is absurd," says Hammami.

Vanessa "B" is a transgender New Yorker who says she fled Mexico in fear of her life, and was able to win her case for asylum in 2014.

"If I stay in my country, probably somebody kill me; maybe I never get a good job," she says. "This country is better, I love this country and the police help you, the organizations help you."

Lee says queer youth locked up for minor offenses in such suburban areas as Long Island are more likely to end up being transferred to immigration detention. While the U.S. does not guarantee legal counsel for asylum-seekers, he says those with a lawyer are six times more likely to be granted asylum.


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Advocates for immigrants are pushing back on a bill signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in the last few days of the legislative session, modeled on a recent, controversial Texas law.

Senate File 2340 gives local law enforcement officers and judges the authority to deport undocumented immigrants.

Erica Johnson, executive director of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, argued the bill is an overreach, and said Iowa law enforcement officers are not authorized to enforce it.

"This is a pretty clear intervention into federal territory," Johnson pointed out. "U.S. immigration law is governed by federal law."

Much like the author of the Texas bill, supporters in Iowa blame the Biden administration for failing to slow illegal immigration, so the state has decided to take matters into its own hands.

Johnson contended the bill and other anti-immigrant sentiment during the just-completed legislative session target the very people Iowa, with its dwindling population, will depend on for its future workforce.

"What we need is communities that are safe, where workers have access to dignified, safe workplaces," Johnson emphasized. "The truth of what Iowa's future could be depends on immigrants and immigrant workers in our state, and unfortunately, this law could take us back, away from that possible future. "

Johnson added her organization will pursue legal ways to block the bill from taking effect in July.


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The future of Senate Bill 4 is still tangled in court challenges. It's the Texas law that would allow police to arrest people for illegally crossing the border. But groups are speaking out about the impact of "Operation Lone Star" on the youngest migrants. Governor Greg Abbott continues to bus migrant families to other states, many with young children - more than 100,000 families so far.

Robert Sanborn, CEO of Children at Risk, works to improve the quality of life for boys and girls in Texas, and contends the policy has put trauma on top of trauma.

"We never want children to be political pawns. We don't want maximum chaos on the backs of children. We want children to grow up and be assets for our community," he contended.

Sanborn points out that 2.2 million children in Texas are immigrants, and said it would be less stressful for kids if families were not bused in the middle of the night, and if they were allowed to pick their destination.

When immigrants arrive at the border, they are evaluated to determine if they're eligible for asylum.

Beatriz Zavala, clinical coordinator at El Paso-based Humanitarian Outreach for Migrant Emotional Health, or "HOME," said the children in this situation are at higher risk for mental health disorders.

"What is particularly troubling is the profound disregard for the stability and protection these families need. The impact on their mental health is undeniable. These are not just statistics. These are children, real children," she said.

As part of Operation Lone Star, families have been bused to Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. The governor has said the practice is needed to keep the Texas-Mexico border safe.


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Legislation in Albany would create the first right to counsel for people in immigration court.

The Access to Representation Act would provide immigrants the right to an attorney in their New York immigration cases, ending the tendency to represent themselves if they cannot afford one.

Estimates show a backlog of more than 330,000 immigration court cases, and fewer than half have attorneys. Studies show without legal counsel, migrants are less likely to remain in the U.S.

Marlene Galaz, director of immigrant rights policy for the New York Immigration Coalition, described what the bill would do.

"It has a six-year ramp-up to start implementing and building infrastructure," Galaz outlined. "Having a pipeline between law schools for law students to go into immigration practice, and getting to nonprofits and so on."

Galaz noted most opposition centers around the $150 million to fund the program but pointed out the total expenditure is less than 1% of the state's $229 billion budget. She added anti-immigrant rhetoric has also damaged support for the bill. Currently, it is in the state Senate Finance Committee.

The New York City Comptroller's office said enacting the bill would benefit the state financially. It could keep about 53,000 people from being deported, which would result in almost $8.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes over the next 30 years.

Galaz emphasized the influx of migrants has saturated the court system, leading to what could have been an avoidable backlog.

"I firmly believe that if these investments had been made when we first asked for them, I believe, like, three years ago, then we wouldn't be struggling," Galaz contended. "We would have had the infrastructure built to address an increase in welcoming our newest neighbors."

A Vera Institute survey showed 93% of New Yorkers across party lines and regions support access to attorneys for all people, including those in immigration court, and government-funded attorneys for them.


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