CAP: The Top 5 Ways the Obama Administration Has Helped Gay and Transgender Immigrants
Here are five common-sense steps the Obama administration has taken to help level the playing field for gay and transgender immigrants.
Putting an end to separating families headed by same-sex couples
For years families have been torn apart by draconian and misguided immigration policies that detain and deport undocumented individuals, even when those individuals have no criminal records and pose no security risk to their community. In 2011, however, the Department of Homeland Security took a significant step toward ending this practice by issuing guidelines that refocus government resources on removing those who pose a threat to public safety or national security—not law-abiding individuals.
Facilitating humane and safe detention standards for gay and transgender immigrants
To prevent such mistreatment, the Obama administration took action in two policy areas. First, the Department of Homeland Security released new detention standards in March 2012 that aim to improve the treatment of gay and transgender detainees. These standards recognize that transgender detainees are especially vulnerable to discrimination and abuse. The standards, for example, ensure that strip searches of transgender detainees will be conducted in private and allows transgender immigrants to continue to receive medically necessary hormone therapy if they received it prior to being detained.
Second, as part of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule in December 2012 proposing standards for officials to be trained to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and assault in detention facilities. This training includes teaching officials “how to communicate effectively and professionally with detainees, including gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming detainees.”
Addressing the needs of gay and transgender refugees
The Obama administration has taken a number of steps to address the unique difficulties that gay and transgender refugees experience when articulating their claims for asylum. In fall 2011 the Department of Homeland Security created a training module on gay and transgender issues that is mandatory for all officers adjudicating refugee and asylum claims. This action ensures that every asylum officer will be trained on appropriate terminology and questions to ask when discussing the deeply personal issue of a refugee’s sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition to this training, the State Department is “funding research on threats facing LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, supporting NGOs that work with LGBT survivors of violence, and strengthening the capacity of UNHCR and other non-government partners.”
Lifting the HIV travel ban
For 22 years the United States prohibited anyone with HIV/AIDS from seeking a visa or a green card to enter the country. This ban on travel was initially created out of fear and ignorance in the 1980s, and it kept thousands of students, tourists, and refugees from entering our borders. It also complicated the adoption of children with HIV, who under the ban were not eligible to enter the United States. In October 2009 President Obama announced that he would overturn the travel and immigration ban against people living with HIV, a process started by his predecessor, President George W. Bush. Two months later the ban was officially lifted. Until President Obama removed the ban, however, HIV was the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law as grounds for inadmissibility to the United States.
Conclusion
The president clearly understands that a fair immigration system addresses the needs of gay and transgender immigrants. This is why he and his administration have taken decisive action to remove obstacles for this part of the immigrant population and to promote a fairer and more humane system for all immigrants, regardless of their sexual orientations or gender identities. It is also why the framework for reform President Obama unveiled earlier this week in Las Vegas included changes that would allow same-sex spouses the ability to sponsor their loved ones for residency—a right that different-sex couples already enjoy under existing immigration law.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/news/2013/01/31/51296/the-top-5-ways-the-obama-administration-has-helped-gay-and-transgender-immigrants/