US Halts Transgender Care in at Least 10 ICE Centers, Deletes 2025 Policy
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20
US Halts Transgender Care in at Least 10 ICE Centers, Deletes 2025 Policy
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20
Summary
At least 10 ICE detention centers have stopped specialized care for transgender migrants, with officials no longer consistently providing hormones and other gender-related treatment.
A Department of Homeland Security policy that set basic protections for transgender detainees was removed from the agency website in February 2025, while other safeguards against harassment and physical harm were also dissolved.
DHS defended the shift by saying it would not spend taxpayer money on hormone therapy for migrants in the country illegally, without addressing the broader rollback of rights and protections.
In Jena, Louisiana, 25-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker Camila Toro de Paula said she has spent 11 months in a men's detention center, facing assault, threats, solitary confinement and lapses in medical care.
As federal agencies rewrite custody rules, what hidden costs emerge when vulnerable detainees are abruptly stripped of specialized medical care?
With oversight reports exposing systemic failures and altered death-tracking metrics, who truly monitors the safety of those locked inside immigration facilities?
When basic survival needs clash with shifting institutional policies, how do marginalized asylum seekers navigate a system seemingly designed against them?