Transgender asylum seeker from El Salvador held by ICE dies at El Paso hospital
EL PASO, Texas - The death of a transgender woman from El Salvador at an El Paso hospital is reigniting concerns about the treatment of detained transgender and gay migrants.
Johana Medina Leon, 25, died of unknown causes on Saturday at Del Sol Medical Center after testing positive for HIV, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
Medina, known to friends as "Joa," had been a certified nurse in El Salvador but sought asylum in the U.S. because she couldn't work as an open trans woman in the nursing profession in her home country, stated Diversidad Sin Fronteras, an advocacy group for transgender migrants.
ICE identified her as Jonathan Alberto "Johana" Medina Leon.
"This is yet another unfortunate example of an alien who enters the United States with an untreated, unscreened medical condition,” ICE El Paso field office director Corey A. Price said in a statement.
The El Paso border has seen the arrival of thousands of Central American migrants seeking asylum for more than year.
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Mistreatment concerns
Medina had been held at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, just north of El Paso, immigrant and civil rights advocates said.
In March, the ACLU of New Mexico had issued a letter calling for an investigation into allegations that transgender women and gay men fleeing persecution were met with abuse and degrading treatment at the Otero facility.
The letter complained about rampant sexual harassment, medical neglect and retaliation from guards and medical staff.
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The ACLU of New Mexico has also called for an immediate end to the mass detention of migrants and asylum seekers who don't pose a security risk.
“The continuing drumbeat of migrant deaths in ICE custody is an entirely predictable outcome of our nation’s practice of mass detention in inhumane and inappropriate conditions," ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney Attorney Kristin Greer Love said in a statement.
ICE said that all detainees receive medical, dental and mental health intake screenings and have access to medical care at each detention facility. ICE annually spends more than $250 million on healthcare services for detainees.
Journey to the U.S.
Medina's journey to the U.S. had taken months. She had waited for a Mexican transitory visa for more than a month in Tapachula, Chiapas, near the Guatemalan border, Diversidad Sin Fronteras stated.
The advocacy group said Medina waited nearly three months in Juárez before she was allowed to make her asylum claim to U.S. immigration officials in El Paso.
On April 11, Medina was detained after being processed at the Paso Del Norte border crossing, ICE said.
Diversidad Sin Fronteras, citing information from Medina's friends and family, alleged that "she was told she was not trans" and that she was a man and was sent the Otero Processing Center.
On May 18, she was found to have a credible fear of returning to El Salvador, the first step in the asylum process, according to an ICE timeline.
On May 21, she spoke to her boyfriend in El Salvador for the last time saying that she didn't feel well and her health was deteriorating, the advocacy group stated.
On May 22, Medina was issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge, ICE stated.
On May 28, Medina requested an HIV test and tested positive and that same day she was taken to a hospital complaining of chest pains, according to ICE.
ICE and the advocacy group both stated that the day that Medina was taken to the hospital, her case was reviewed and she was released on parole that day.
Her uncle and a trans leader in Juárez were both notified Saturday night that Medina had died at the hospital, the advocacy group stated.
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The Transgender Law Center, a national advocacy group, stated that it mourned Medina's death and was "devastated and outraged, but not surprised" because of detention conditions for transgender migrants.
Medina's death took place on the first day of LGBTQ Pride month and just after the first anniversary of the death of a Roxsana Hernandez, a 33-year-old transgender woman from Honduras who died of an AIDS-related disease while in ICE custody in 2018.
Follow Daniel Borunda on Twitter @BorundaDaniel
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Transgender asylum seeker from El Salvador held by ICE dies at El Paso hospital
