JDI applauds new ICE policy on transgender detainees
- June 29, 2015
Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., June 29, 2015 — Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) publicly released new guidance on protecting transgender detainees, in response to demands by Just Detention International and its partners. JDI urged the agency to fulfill its obligation to protect this population from sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and discrimination. Multiple federal reports, including ones released by the General Accounting Office and the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, make clear that transgender people in detention face extremely high risks of sexual abuse.
“Anytime the government restricts a person’s liberty, it has an absolute obligation to keep them safe,” said Lovisa Stannow, JDI’s Executive Director. “ICE’s new guidance is a meaningful first step toward creating safer facilities. Now, ICE must demonstrate its commitment to keeping transgender detainees safe by meaningfully implementing the new guidance, reviewing it regularly, and adding further protections when possible.”
With the release of this new guidance, ICE is the largest agency in the U.S. to have an explicit policy and process requiring that detention facilities consider appropriate housing for transgender detainees who believe they will be safest when housed based on their gender identity. Once the guidance is implemented, ICE will be the only federal agency to have such a policy in place. JDI urges other federal agencies with detention facilities, including the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Defense, Office of Refugee Resettlement, and Bureau of Indian Affairs, to follow ICE’s lead.
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Just Detention International is a health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse in all forms of detention.