According to a complaint filed by the civil rights groups with the the US agency on Monday, gay and transgender who were detained and were held at a large Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in New Mexico have faced physical and verbal abuse.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Santa Fe Dreamers Project allegedly stated in their letter that 12 gay and transgender detainees at the Otero County Processing Center consistently suffered sexual harassment and abuse from other detainees. They also alleged that ICE officials violated their own regulations in denying hormone therapy to transgender detainees. The letter further stated that on complaining about the same, they were placed in solitary confinement."ICE's practices at Otero have created an unsafe environment for transgender women and gay men who are detained there," the letter said.
The officials of ICE have refused to comment on the charged allegations. However spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa, defending the organisation said, "ICE is committed to ensuring that those in our custody reside in safe, secure and human environments and under appropriate conditions of confinement."
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A Honduran man who identified himself as gay on the condition of anonymity said in an interviewthat he was repeatedly sexually harassed after arriving at the Otero facility in December. The man did not file any complaint because of the fear of its consequences.
Previously in 2018, 37 Democratic members of Congress reportedly wrote a letter to ICE with similar allegations. The ICE guidelines however allows solitary confinement of those vulnerable to sexual abuse or assault "when no other viable housing options exist, as a last resort."