The Transgender Law Center (TLC) today filed a new lawsuit alleging that the conditions faced by transgender people held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are unconstitutional, and calling for those detainees to be immediately released.

The situation has become particularly dire, according to TLC, due to mismanagement of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Since the middle of March, ICE has reported infections in dozens of detention centers, with hundreds of detainees and dozens of staff testing positive for COVID-19. That includes ten facilities where transgender detainees are known to be housed.

Because ICE will not provide adequate medical care or adhere to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the lawsuit charges, those detainees must be released to avoid a violation of the constitutional right to due process, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act.

“ICE is failing,” said Lynly Egyes, TLC’s Legal Director in a statement. “A humane response to address COVID-19 is possible: release transgender people that are currently in ICE detention so that they can receive care and safety in community … We have the resources to safely house people who are released. Now we’re asking the court to compel ICE to do the right thing.”

TLC is represented by law firm Ballard Spahr LLP, which has in the past sued to allow media coverage of high-profile trials, defended the National Jewish Democratic Council against a casino magnate lawsuit; and successfully secured equal pay for women hockey players. The law firm recently reduced salaries for high-paid attorneys to avoid layoffs of lower-paid employees.

Attorney Matthew Kelley acknowledged in a written statement that transgender people often face disproportionately inadequite medical care, harassment, and violence. “My Ballard colleagues and I are honored to fight for their release during the COVID-19 crisis which exposes them to life-threatening conditions,” Kelley wrote.

Also joining the lawsuit is the Rapid Defense Network, an organization founded last year to provide pro bono legal assistance to non-citizens facing imminent deportation or detention.

In a written statement, Gregory Copeland, Legal Director at Rapid Defense Network, said the ICE detention facilities were “completely inadequate before the pandemic,” and have now become “death traps.”

The suit names thirteen specific detainees in custody, but as a class action suit it covers all transgender people currently held by ICE, as well as future detainees for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

Many of the people currently in detention left their countries of origin because they were threatened for being transgender, and hoped that the United States would provide asylum. But once captured by ICE, detainees have reported dangerous conditions that include a lack of social distancing, as well as a lack of access to daily medications and health information. Because transgender people are at heightened risk for health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, immune suppression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, they are at particular risk in ICE custody.

“What we’re asking the court for is the ability to survive,” wrote Ola Osaze, Director of TLC-housed Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, in a statement. “This is not only a public health issue but one that has potentially deadly consequences for the tens of thousands of people detained in ICE facilities as well as those that work in these facilities.”

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