Search

Bamby Salcedo was a 2021 keynote speaker at the 33rd annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE). On July 22 and August 7, 2021, Bri Sérráno and Cristóbal Salinas Jr. interviewed Bamby Salcedo via Zoom. JCSCORE thanks Bamby for sharing her story with us.

A trans person is murdered every 3 days in the world, with the majority of these murders occurring in Latin America. This violence is a motivating factor for Latinx trans immigrants to immigrate to the United States. Regardless of whether individuals may be able to remain in the U.S., trans immigrants and asylum seekers are often held in detention facilities until immigration courts decide their cases. Although there are several standards of care and guidelines produced for trans and nonbinary (TNB) people who are held in detention, various reports have indicated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not or inappropriately implemented these guidelines, thereby incurring and increasing risk of harm upon TNB immigrants.This qualitative study used thematic analysis to provide an understanding of the psychological impact that the systemic power of US detention proceedings had on the lives of Latinx, trans immigrants.The semi-structured interview protocol and implementation of this study was developed in collaboration with two national Latinx, LGBTQ immigrant advocacy organizations. The sample included 30 trans participants, between the ages of 18 and 52 (Participants reported being subject to debilitating and torturous conditions in "La Hielera", torture and abusive treatment by detention authorities, being denied access to basic human needs and medical care, and held in solitary confinement as punishment. This dehumanization, abuse, and transphobia in detention incurred psychological sequelae on participants including trauma, anxiety and depression, suicidal ideation, and a preference to self-deport.Implications include calls to abolish immigration detention, recommendations for mental health providers, and an overall restructuring of policies and services for humane asylum seeking processes for trans, Latinx immigrants.

This chapter explores how Iranian LGBTI refugees waiting in Turkey negotiate and respond to the tightening asylum policies of several nation-states. The recent asylum policies of the United States and Canada have stranded refugees in Turkey for an undetermined period of time, severely undermining the prospect for their resettlement. At the same time, Turkey’s emergency decree laws implemented in the wake of the coup attempt have expanded the securitization of asylum, putting refugees at greater risk of detention and deportation. Overwhelmed by the unsafety of their present and uncertainty of their future, refugees also respond to violence and uncertainty through humor and sarcasm, political and communal organizing, and alternative support networks.