Free Marichuy: Trans Immigration Detainee and Rape Survivor Deserves Safety

Today, National Center for Transgender Equality joined nearly 60 local and national LGBT and immigrant’s rights groups in calling for the release of Marichuy Leal Gamino. Marichuy is a transgender woman and survivor of sexual assault in an Arizona for-profit immigration detention facility.

Advocates like NCTE have been in communication with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on this violent incident, and have urged DHS to release Marichuy. As NCTE Director of Policy Harper Jean Tobin notes in the letter to DHS, “Marichuy’s story illustrates why the mass detention of immigrants must end. Thousands of LGBT immigrants like Marichuy are needlessly jailed each year, and hundreds of transgender women are routinely placed in men’s jails despite the obvious danger this creates.”

The National Center for Transgender Equality and our partners will continue to advocate on behalf of Marichuy and will press for policy change as the White House prepares to take executive action to reform U.S. deportation policies.

Learn more about how immigration laws and policies affect transgender people in our report, “Our Moment for Reform.”

View this document on Scribd