Trans people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody are revealing the horrific conditions they face daily during immigration detention that has lasted months. They report fearing both other inmates and guards, being trapped in solitary confinement (supposedly for their own protection), and being forcibly detransitioned and denied approved medical care.

“The reports of abuse and medical neglect endured by transgender immigrants in ICE custody are horrifying and unconscionable,” Ramiro Sarmiento, National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, told *LGBTQ Nation* in a statement.

“The Trump administration’s deliberate targeting of transgender people and immigrants, and its disregard for their fundamental humanity, represents a shameful betrayal of our nation’s values. Many of these individuals came to the US fleeing violence and persecution because of who they are, only to face the same cruelty at the hands of our government. We are and have been a nation of immigrants, a refuge for the world’s most vulnerable. No one, regardless of their immigration status or gender identity, should be subjected to such inhumane treatment.”

“Everywhere they call us men, f\*\*\*ots, very offensive words,” one trans woman, Camila Toro de Paula, told *[Verite News](https://veritenews.org/2026/10/05/trans-detainees-jena-ice-facility/)*, saying of the harassment and violence that the guards “let it happen.”

“We don’t have a right to anything here; we trans women don’t have rights.” Earlier this year, in an interview with *The New York Times* de Paula said, “I’m afraid of dying here.”

Throughout his second term, the Trump administration has attacked immigrants, including those here legally, with aggressive ICE deployment. It has also [targeted trans people with endless lawfare](https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/rep-becca-balint-says-dems-can-slow-trumps-anti-trans-but-first-they-must-win-midterms/). As such, trans and nonbinary immigrants have had the most to fear.

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The women said they face regular physical abuse at the hands of ICE agents and have had to suffer aggressive pat-downs and strip searches in front of male guards. In September 2025, a nonbinary person and two trans men filed a civil rights complaint [with the help of the ACLU against the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center](https://kennedyhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Final-Basile-CRCL-Complaint-_Redacted.pdf), citing sexual abuse, forced labor, denial of healthcare, and retaliation for speaking up.

*[The Marshall Project](https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/09/12/ice-women-transgender-trump-detention)* spoke with Channel Ferro Badell, a trans woman held in ICE custody. She reported being made to sleep in an open dorm with 70 men, where threats of nightly sexual assault and violence were common and guards did nothing to prevent it. Badell had to listen to men threaten, “I’ll tear you to pieces” or “I’ll rape you tonight.”

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Without the trans pods [segregated facilities], ICE officials place trans people in solitary confinement if they find that holding them alongside cis detainees isn’t safe. The [dangers of solitary confinement are well documented](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/solitary-confinement-effects#physical-health-effects), with reports showing it can cause hallucinations, psychosis, suicidal ideation, and panic attacks, as well as a myriad of physical problems.

Mendoza, who suffers from PTSD, said when she spoke to *The Marshall Project* in September that she had been in an isolation unit for months, despite a psychologist warning of the risk to her mental health and saying she should not be kept in solitary. “We see shadows and hear voices and suffer delirium,” she said.

The trans women that *Verite* spoke to also revealed they were being denied the hormone replacement therapy they had been on before they were incarcerated. That denial has [become a common trend for inmates in prisons across the United States](https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/09/admin-tells-supreme-court-gender-affirming-care-makes-prisons-less-secure/) after Trump’s 2025 directives to the Bureau of Prisons to stop funding gender-affirming care. The women are also denied appropriate clothes or makeup. “So what we do is use a pencil to paint on our faces,” said Estephany Rivas. “Just because we do that, they get mad and report us. What harm are we doing to them?”