Content note: mention of violence, sexual assault, and attempted suicide
In appreciation of the organizations who worked tirelessly for the release of Udoka Nweke and other LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in immigration detention.
This illustration is in solidarity with gay asylum seeker Udoka Nweke. In 2016, Nweke had presented himself at the San Ysidro port of entry in California, asking for asylum. (This is completely legal, btw.)
Nweke was detained by ICE immediately and held in Adelanto Detention Center for nearly 19 months, where he experienced homophobic abuse from other inmates. There, he attempted suicide twice. This suffering could have been avoided if he had been released early on parole to wait for the decision on his asylum case instead of waiting in detention while his case was being decided, a process that could take months or years.
Nweke’s journey
Udoka Nweke fled his home country Nigeria after he was attacked by an anti-gay mob. [Nigeria passed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act in December 2013, which states that “A person or group of persons who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs , societies and organisation, or directly or indirectly makes public show of same sex amorous relationship in Nigeria commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of 10 years imprisonment.”]
After an arduous journey through South and Central America, Nweke presented himself to U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the San Ysidro port of entry in December 2016, asking for asylum. He was detained by ICE immediately and held in Adelanto Detention Center for nearly 19 months, where other inmates physically and verbally abused him for his gay identity.
Asylum request
After Nweke’s asylum request was denied, he attempted suicide in the detention center. Fortunately, Luis Gomez, the immigration specialist at the LGBT Center of Orange County, put Nweke in touch with the Black LGBTQ Migrant Project (BLMP), which was able to connect him with attorney Monica Glicken of Public Law Center, whose pro-bono two-person team took on Nweke’s asylum appeal.
Glicken said that translation issues had impacted the outcome of Nweke’s earlier asylum hearings:
“This happens all the time, especially when a person has been unrepresented for a long time. Udoka went to several hearings by himself and only had a pro bono attorney for the last couple of hearings… Immigration judges have a tough job. They see a lot of people each day and … have to decide whether or not the person in front of them is telling the truth based on what is necessarily a subjective judgment… It is difficult for them to take into account if the individual is suffering from trauma or having translation difficulties where inflection and meaning and information gets lost. You see all of this playing out in the decision for Udoka’s case.”
Nweke was released in September 2018 pending his asylum appeal. The organizations that worked to secure his release include Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project of Transgender Law Center, LGBT Center Orange County, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Public Law Center, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement and Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Full list of organizations at https://www.gofundme.com/f/freeudoka
Nweke received his work permit on November 27, 2018, and works while waiting for the outcome of his asylum case. An asylum case can take months or years to decide.
Is Nweke’s experience unique?
Johana Medina León, a transgender woman from El Salvador, fled her home country in December 2018. She waited 3 months in Juarez, Mexico to present her case to U.S. officials. On April 11 2019, Medina León asked for asylum at Paso del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso. She was then taken to Otero County Processing Center, a private detention center in New Mexico. On May 18, 2019, she passed her credible fear interview.
Medina León, who worked as a nurse in her home country, became seriously ill in detention. After her requests for medical care were denied, she asked to be deported so she could get appropriate medical attention. That request was also denied.
On May 28, 2019, Medina León was taken to a hospital where she died on the first day of Pride Month. After her death, the field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in El Paso released a statement falsely claiming that Medina León had entered the country “illegally”, even though she followed the asylum procedure by presenting herself at an official port of entry. That statement was later edited to remove the word “illegally.”
A year earlier, Roxsana Hernandez, a transgender asylum seeker from Honduras, died of health complications after two weeks in ICE custody on May 25, 2018. A fellow detainee claimed that Hernandez was kept in a facility with excessive low temperatures, aka an “ice box”.
In 2017, Camila Díaz Córdova, a transgender woman from El Salvador, requested asylum at the port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico. U.S. officials tried to turn her away. Díaz Córdova insisted that she needed to enter the United States because she feared for her life. She had documented proof in the form of police reports that she filed in El Salvador regarding the threats that she faced.
Díaz Córdova was taken to a detention facility in San Diego. She passed an interview to determine whether she had a credible fear of persecution if returned to El Salvador. She applied for parole, which would have released her from detention to wait for the outcome of her asylum case. The request was denied.
The consequences of parole denial
Medina León and Hernandez died of medical neglect in detention. The conditions of Díaz Córdova’s detention were so harsh that she gave up on her asylum case. Díaz Córdova was returned to her home country in late 2017. She was killed in February 2019. Three police officers were charged with her murder.
Risks for LGBTQ detainees in immigration detention
“ICE recently provided Representative Kathleen M. Rice (NY-04), with information about LGBT people in its custody, including incidents of sexual assault… Although LGBTQ people accounted for just 0.1% of ICE’s detained population in FY 2017, they accounted for a staggering 12% of victims of sexual assault reported in ICE detention. ICE policies for years have recognized that LGBT immigrants, particularly those who are transgender, are vulnerable to abuse while detained. DHS’ own Prison Elimination Act (PREA) standards require an individualized custody determination for transgender people…”
Sources
- “Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project (BLMP) Celebrates Release of Nigerian Asylum-Seeker Udoka Nweke from Adelanto Detention Facility,” Transgender Law Center. Sep. 27 2018. Press release
- LGBTQ Center of Orange County Newsletter, Dec. 2018
- Kane, Chirstopher. “Gay asylum seeker held in California detention center since 2016”, Los Angeles Blade, May 23 2018. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.
- Brigida, Anna-Chatherine. “El Salvador’s Justice System Takes on a Historic Case.” Foreign Policy, Mar 9. 2020. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.
- “Salvadoran police face trial for murder of trans woman deported from U.S.” Reuters, Mar. 11 2020. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.
- Moore, Robert. “Transgender woman who had been in ICE custody dies in El Paso after falling ill.” The Texas Tribune, Jun. 3 2019. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.
- Kesslen, Ben. ”Transgender asylum-seeker dies after six weeks in ICE custody.” NBC News, Jun. 3 2019. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.
- Levin, Sam. “Trans woman who died after illness in US custody had asked to be deported, family says.” The Guardian, Jun. 12 2019. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.
- Fitzsimons, Tim. “Transgender ICE detainee died of AIDS complications, autopsy shows.” NBC News, Apr 17, 2019. Accessed 7 Jul 2022.