Washington, D.C., February 18, 2025 – Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Black Diaspora Liberty Initiative, Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, Immigration Equality, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Sanctuary New Orleans Abolition Project, and the Transgender Law Center filed a joint submission urging the United Nations to denounce widespread abuse of LGBTQ+ people in for-profit immigration detention facilities across the United States. The groups drew special attention to lethal risks for detained transgender people and called on the UN to support state legislative solutions to end the abuse of for-profit immigration detention, like New York’s proposed Dignity not Detention Act. 

The groups wrote to the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, describing the abusive use of solitary confinement, sexual abuse and harassment, and denial of medical care that LGBTQ+ people regularly face in ICE detention. They cited specific examples from Louisiana, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida and highlighted particular harms for transgender people, from a transgender woman who was locked by guards in a cell with a man who abused her repeatedly and attempted to rape her to cases of transgender women who died after being refused medical care while in detention. 

“Queer and transgender people have inherent worth and dignity that can’t be erased by throwing them into for-profit, black hole detention sites,” said Anthony Enriquez, VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “States and localities can stand up to abuse of LGBTQ+ people by ending taxpayer handouts to the private prison CEOs who run ICE detention.”

The groups emphasized the particularly harsh application of solitary confinement for transgender people. Data from the third quarter of 2023 shows a 114% increase nationally in placements of transgender people in solitary confinement relative to the previous quarter. On average, transgender people spent 57 days in isolation, with some held for as long as 286 days – far surpassing the United Nation’s 15-day threshold for defining solitary confinement as torture.

“Queer and trans immigrants are illegally, systematically, and doubly penalized for their identities – by their countries of origin, from which they escape, and by the U.S., the country that is supposed to protect them,” said Shira Hereld, staff attorney at Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. “The U.S government and ICE’s treatment of trans immigrants sends a clear and noxious message: for some immigrants, there is no safe quarter anywhere.”

Detention is a death sentence for trans migrants,” said Uchechukwu Onwa, Founder and Executive Director for Black Diaspora Liberty Initiative. “ICE has a documented history of denying gender-affirming healthcare, leading to extreme suffering, deteriorating health, and, in some cases, preventable deaths. We demand protection not torture.”  

The organizations urged the United Nations to denounce these human rights violations in an upcoming June meeting of the Human Rights Council. 

About Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that has worked to realize Robert F. Kennedy’s dream of a more just and peaceful world since 1968. In partnership with local activists, RFK Human Rights advocates for key human rights issues, championing change makers and pursuing strategic litigation at home and around the world. And to ensure change that lasts, we foster a social-good approach to business and investment and educate millions of students about human rights and social justice. 

About Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Colorado, that works to ensure justice for adults and children in immigration proceedings. RMIAN empowers people through education of legal rights; provides zealous legal representation to uphold fundamental fairness and due process; promotes the importance of universal representation such that anyone in immigration proceedings has access to counsel despite financial barriers; and advocates for a more efficient, functional, and humane immigration system, including an end to immigration detention. Learn more about RMIAN’s work at rmian.org, Facebook, and Instagram at @rmian_org.