Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, support is accessible. In the US, please contact or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For global resources, refer to the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide, which provide contact information for crisis centers worldwide.
Los Angeles
UJ
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On a notably cool December evening, the sounds of laughter and conversation filled a hall in West Hollywood, overflowing with families and friends. By the grand Christmas tree, a gathering formed around Bamby Salcedo, her vibrant red suit shining amidst the crowd.
A younger Salcedo could never have envisioned being amidst fellow trans immigrants in such a festive atmosphere. Arriving in the United States nearly forty years ago, she often found herself cycling through the streets, jails, and immigration detention due to the scarcity of stable jobs and housing.
These hardships propelled her to co-found the TransLatin@ Coalition, a network aimed at supporting trans and gender non-conforming immigrants, which has served as a sanctuary for many.
Reflecting on a month after the new Trump administration took office, Salcedo admits that the happy recollection of that celebration does little to comfort her, given a government determined to drive her and others like her back into obscurity. Recently, she has concentrated on preparing to defend transgender immigrants, her community, and her loved ones, who are anxious about their safety, health, and, for some, the looming threat of deportation.
Numerous trans immigrants report that violence and hostility surged during the Biden administration, which recorded some of the highest deportation rates since 2014. Last year, the TransLatin@ Coalition’s office received a bomb threat from a man reportedly intending to attack a Pride parade.
They feel, however, that the Trump administration is now targeting them with an unprecedented level of hostility not seen in his prior term.
“It is evident that the federal government has a distinct initiative to target our community’s members,” Salcedo declared. “As an organization, we are fighting desperately to ensure our community is safeguarded and supported, yet the messages recipients hear from the federal government undeniably affect their minds and spirits.”
Up until now, President Donald Trump has initiated a national immigration crackdown and enacted several executive orders affecting transgender individuals. These include barring transgender service members from joining the US military, halting federal support for gender transitions in minors, and reversing initiatives aimed at expanding gender identity classifications. These developments follow Trump outlining during his campaign specific measures he would take against these communities.
Since Trump’s presidency commenced, calls to the TransLatin@ Coalition have more than doubled, with individuals seeking clarity on how these policies may influence their lives, according to Salcedo.
UJ has attempted to contact the White House regarding the concerns raised by trans immigrants and advocates.
An estimated 174,200 transgender immigrants reside in the US, with roughly 25% of them living in California, as reported by a 2024 study from the Williams Center, a public policy research center focused on the LGBTQ community at UCLA School of Law.
Of these transgender immigrants, 72% identify as people of color; 38% as Latinx, 33% as non-Hispanic Asian, and 29% as White, the study indicates.
Although no explicit policies targeting transgender immigrants have been declared, their intersecting identities create unique vulnerabilities to violence and even potential homicide, according to some experts interviewed by UJ.
“We must recognize that trans immigrants face heightened discrimination due to the prevailing anti-trans and anti-immigrant rhetoric within our national policies,” stated Luis R. Alvarez-Hernandez, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Social Work. “They exist at the crossroads of both critical moments in our national policy landscape.”
Major Threats: Deportation and Detention
Numerous transgender immigrants have fled to the US due to severe violence and persecution faced in their home countries. Some have previously joined migrant caravans, journeying thousands of miles through Mexico to reach the US border.
If faced with deportation, their lives may be at risk, Salcedo warns.
“Ultimately, the greatest fear is for them to lose their lives,” she expressed.
Between October 2023 and September 2024, the Trans Murder Monitoring project reported at least 350 trans and gender-diverse individuals were murdered worldwide. 70% of these fatalities occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Mexico, where many individuals UJ interviewed are originally from, reportedly has the world’s second-highest murder rate for transgender people, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring project. Nevertheless, experts and advocates recognize that trans immigrants from various regions encounter similar violence. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras similarly experience elevated violence toward LGBTQ individuals, worsened by gang activity, as noted in a 2017 Amnesty International report.
During the first Trump administration, Alvarez-Hernandez served as a clinical social worker in Atlanta, listening to the fears of many trans immigrant clients regarding being returned to the violent conditions of their home countries.
“Their fears are justified. There is ample documentation of trans immigrants being sent back to their home countries and subsequently being murdered there,” he remarked.
For many trans immigrants, returning to such conditions feels unfathomable, just as being held in immigration detention centers presents a nightmare scenario.
Detainees often face a lack of medical and mental health care and endure discriminatory treatment, creating conditions that lead to “largely preventable deaths,” as indicated in a 2024 report from the National Immigrant Justice Center.
Li Ann Sanchez, a transgender woman from southern Mexico who heads a trans immigrant rights organization in Atlanta, described her experience in an immigrant detention facility as “something I would not wish upon my worst enemy.”
“The fear looms large, as we are incredibly vulnerable, yet anyone can assault us, and our rights are effectively stripped away,” Sanchez stated in Spanish.
Sanchez, who faced detention in 2012, recounted how “female officers would assert that I was not a woman and that I would never truly be one.”
UJ has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to get comments on Sanchez and Salcedo’s experiences in detention as well as reports from advocates on the conditions within these facilities.
In a 2015 ICE memorandum shared by Tom Homan, then-executive associate director of the agency and now Trump’s appointed “border czar,” employees were instructed to conduct “individualized placement determinations to guarantee the detainee’s safety,” encompassing access to healthcare and regulations on solitary confinement.
A June 2024 report by Immigration Equality, a group advocating for LGBTQ immigration rights, stated that the ICE memo offered “insufficient protections and perpetuates an inhumane and carceral framework” for care. The memo was deemed “vague, ambiguous, and lacking an independent oversight mechanism.”
Advocacy groups have urged that LGBTQ and HIV-positive individuals be released from detention, citing that “transgender women face the highest risk of assault,” and that “staff and fellow detainees frequently assault, belittle, and sexually assault or rape transgender women.”
Salcedo noted that the TransLatin@ Coalition was established in response to witnessing the treatment of herself and fellow trans women during detention, as well as the meager resources available to incite change.
“I was physically assaulted by a male detainee, experiencing injuries severe enough that I required transportation to an external hospital for treatment,” Salcedo remarked about her time in detention in southern California. She recounted witnessing brutality against other trans women during her detention in the 1990s and early 2000s in California.
In one of Trump’s numerous executive orders issued on Inauguration Day, he mandated that federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, prevent transgender women from being housed in women’s prisons and detention facilities and to discontinue gender-affirming care for detainees.
Earlier this month, a judge prohibited the federal prison system from enforcing this order, expressing that the safety of transgender individuals could be jeopardized.
Escalating Violence, Attacks, and Economic Insecurity
Casey Carter Swegman, director of public policy at the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit serving immigrants fleeing gender-based violence, highlighted that immigrants and transgender individuals are “highly targeted and vulnerable” separately, and their overlapping identities amplify their fears significantly.
Following the election, survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, or trafficking have vocalized to the nonprofit that their abusers threaten deportation due to their undocumented status, instilling a “significant chilling effect” on their willingness to report crimes, according to Carter Swegman.
“The more we witness attacks on these programs and legal routes to safety provided by law, the more transgender survivors, in particular, will hesitate to come forward for aid,” she stated.
Even if trans immigrants manage to steer clear of immigration enforcement, their daily realities in the US may become perilous due to the elimination or limitation of protections for transgender people by Trump’s orders and a growing animosity against them, according to experts and advocates.
At least 32 trans and gender-expansive individuals were murdered in the US last year, predominantly people of color, according to a count by the Human Rights Campaign.
Reports of anti-trans hate crimes in the US have doubled, escalating from 176 incidents in 2021 to 355 in 2023, based on FBI hate crime statistics.
Members of Sanchez’s community, in Atlanta and other US cities, have reported an uptick in attacks, with many encouraging one another to go out in pairs for safety, she revealed.
“We are in danger. This is due to the executive orders signed by Trump, which specifically target these already vulnerable communities,” Sanchez stated.
However, Sanchez emphasized that this is a struggle her community has faced for years, asserting, “If one of us is attacked, we will all respond.”
Another significant concern is economic instability among trans individuals, characterized by “lower employment rates, diminished household incomes, elevated poverty levels, increased reliance on public assistance, and greater instances of food insecurity,” according to a 2022 study utilizing US Census data published in the Southern Economic Journal.
When individuals cannot secure employment due to their immigration status or gender identity, they may resort to informal sources of income to survive, which could also lead to incarceration, Salcedo indicated.
“If people cannot live openly and secure employment necessary for a standard life, this instills fear within our communities,” she noted. “One is compelled to take actions for basic needs, such as food and shelter.”
Amid the evolving landscape under the Trump administration, advocates strongly recommend that individuals prioritize their mental health.
“Although we may not experience it right now, over time, feelings of loneliness could push individuals toward suicidal thoughts,” Sanchez expressed, highlighting her biggest concern—how the increasing number of anti-transgender violence and suicide victims memorialized on Transgender Day of Remembrance appears to rise each year.
According to the CDC’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 41% of LGBTQ+ youths have seriously contemplated suicide, emphasizing significant health disparities faced by LGBTQ+ youths compared to their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts.
Despite the upcoming challenges, the individuals who engaged with UJ express assurance that the trans immigrant community will stand strong together.
“We have provided clothing, food, and shelter for our community with minimal resources. In essence, we have always been performing social work,” Salcedo stated, emphasizing the importance of community support in navigating these challenging times.
“As long as we continue to uplift and support each other, while understanding that this too shall ultimately pass…Hope should never be extinguished.”
UJ’s Maria Aguilar Prieto contributed to this report.
