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Pioneer Courthouse, Portland, Oregon, September 2023
Attorneys for a transgender woman say they still haven't been able to contact her after she was arrested during her asylum hearing.
A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to deport a transgender immigrant after officers arrested her during her asylum hearing — but her attorneys say they still haven't been able to contact her.
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O.J.M., known only by her initials out of concerns for her safety, was leaving a courtroom during her asylum hearing on Monday when she was detained by ICE agents, who demanded that the court dismiss her case. She was then taken from the courthouse in Portland, Ore. and forcibly moved across state lines to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash.
ICE did not inform O.J.M.'s attorneys, from the immigration law firm Innovation Law Lab, of her location after her arrest, prompting them to file a habeas petition. The filing, obtained by Oregon Public Broadcasting, accuses ICE officials of committing "a deceptive sleight of hand" in an effort "to eject O.J.M. from her own asylum case, detain her, and transfer her away from the District of Oregon so that they can rapidly deport her.”
“Only nearly two years after O.J.M. was released from [immigration] custody and months after she applied for asylum, [officials] commenced removal proceedings against her in immigration court where she could present her asylum claim under the due process rights,” the petition reads. “O.J.M. had properly filed her asylum application, but ICE appears to be attempting to place her in expedited removal, a rapid deportation process with minimal protections."
The petition says that O.J.M., who is is a 24-year-old trans woman, fled from Mexico to the U.S. in 2023 "fearing for her life" after she was abducted and raped "at the hands of a dangerous cartel" — the Knights Templar Cartel — because of her gender identity. It states: "They threatened to kill her because O.J.M. is a transgender woman."
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio issued an order on Tuesday commanding ICE not to remove O.J.M. from Oregon, but officials responded that they had already done so. Baggio then ordered ICE to report the “exact date and time” that she was transferred, as well as why agents “believed that such a move was immediately necessary," and updated her order to forbid them from transporting her out of Tacoma, per OPB.
While O.J.M.'s lawyers are now aware of her location, they still have not been able to contact her. LGBTQ+ nonprofit Basic Rights Oregon said in a statement that the arrest "is an alarming escalation of the Trump Administration’s attacks on the safety of immigrants and refugees," particularly because "the Trump Administration has made it a point to strip away as many legal protections for trans immigrants as they can."
"Trans folks are often asylum seekers, and many have endured grave harm in their country of origin due to gender identity or sexual orientation," the organization wrote. "Transgender individuals in immigration detention are at high risk for physical and sexual assault, denial of necessary medical care, and isolation in facilities used for punitive reasons."
"Oregon is stronger because of immigrants, and because of transgender people," it continued. "It is outrageous that ICE would come to Oregon and target a trans woman who is guilty only of seeking a safe and affirming place to live. Courthouse arrests destroy the integrity of our justice system."
