The Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) has filed a complaint on behalf of 13 immigration clients, detailing severe discrimination and abuse of LGBT and sexual minorities while in custody of US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The complaint asks that these instances be further investigated, develop new policies, and oversee the implentation of the new policies better protecting the civil and human rights of LGBT minorities.

The report filed details instances where severe discrimination has taken place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual immigrants, along with HIV-positive individuals. Details about sexual assaults, denial of medical care, and long-term solitary confinement are given by the 13 clients represented by NIJC. "Monica", a psuedonym for one of the transgender immigrants, was denied her hormone therapy while in custody, even though she had been on hormones for ten years prior:

"[Monica], now detained for over five months, told NIJC staff, “I can’t even look at myself in the mirror anymore,” due to returning facial and body hair and other distressing changes. [Monica], an asylum seeker who has suffered grave past abuse in Mexico, also received no treatment for her trauma-related depression. She attempted suicide in February 2011 – the facility put her in solitary confinement as punishment."

Another immigrant, a gay man named "Juan", suffered sexual assaults due to his feminine demeanor. He was both physically and verbally abused while in DHS custody.

"After [Juan] suffered a sexual assault motivated in part by his perceived effeminacy, a guard at the same facility told him publicly, 'Walk like a man, not like a gay man.'"

Click to read more about these injustices to LGBT immigrants.

(Source: Heartland Alliance's National Immigrat Justice Center & LGBTQNation.com)