Transgender Asylum Seeker Asks For Release From ICE Detention

Approved ~~ MJM

When Yimy Aldair Benitez Lopez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last November, they had one major fear about being held in detention. The 25 year-old Honduran national was in the process of taking transgender hormone therapy to become a woman.

“I’ve seen on the news that in other detention centers how people in the trans community suffer just for being transgender and don’t receive the proper treatment,” Benitez Lopez said during a call from the Hudson County Correctional Facility in New Jersey.

Benitez Lopez—who prefers the pronoun they—said they didn’t reveal their identity when they were detained and was housed with other males. They stopped taking their treatment in order to look more masculine. But two months later, facial hair is growing and their voice is deeper. And Benitez Lopez isn’t feeling well.

“Physically and emotionally I feel a bit depressed, sad, I’m always crying because I feel like my life has been placed on pause while I’ve been detained.”

Continued…

Article URL: https://gothamist.com/news/transgender-asylum-seeker-asks-release-ice-detention