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Statements and Releases

Actions in 14 cities nationwide call for #JusticeforRoxsana, one year after her death in ICE detention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Emilio Vicente | emilio@familiatqlm.org | 919.200.8239

National week of action May 26 – June 3, 2019 

Organizations in 9 major cities are joining Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement’s national week of action May 26 – June 3, 2019 to commemorates Roxsana Hernandez, a trans woman from Honduras who died in ICE custody May 25, 2018, while seeking asylum, as well as demand accountability for all of the agencies that played a potential role in her death. 

The 10 major cities participating are: New York City, Los Vegas, Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, and San Francisco.   

“A year after Roxsana Hernandez’s death, we continue to demand justice for her,” said Jorge Gutierrez, executive Director of Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement. “Roxsana died in ICE detention, hoping to get asylum. She died because of the willful negligence of ICE and the government. We won’t stop organizing until all of the agencies responsible for her death are held accountable.”

Roxsana Hernandez was a Honduran transgender woman and an asylum seeker who arrived with a caravan organized by Diversidad Sin Fronteras. She arrived in Tijuana and sought asylum by presenting herself at the San Ysidro Port of Entry (SYPOE) in May. What followed was a hellish ordeal of being held in U.S. Customs & Border Protection custody in the notoriously cold holding areas, known as “hieleras,” growing increasingly ill as a result of the inhumane conditions. She was repeatedly denied access to the medical care she begged for, ultimately dying in custody less than a month after presenting herself for asylum.

 

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Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement works at local and national levels to achieve the collective liberation of trans, queer, and gender nonconforming Latinxs through building community, organizing, advocacy, and education.