Photo: Facebook/Asociacion Aspidh Arcoiris Trans18 February 2019    

A transgender woman who was killed in El Salvador was reportedly deported by United States immigration officials before her death. They allegedly did not believe her concerns of being in danger in her home country.

Camila died on 3 February, though the cause of death remains undisclosed at this time.

LGBTI organization Presentes is investigating what happened to the 29-year-old sex worker. Some of Camila’s fellow sex workers told Presentes they saw police attack Camila and dump her body.

‘Presentes has asked police for an official response but it has closed the case and has not responded,’ the organization said in a statement.

Asociación Aspidh Arcoiris Trans, another Salvadoran trans group, told the Washington Blade they learned Camila was taken to Rosales National Hospital on 31 January with numerous injuries.

US immigration policies

Camila migrated to the US over threats posed to her in El Salvador. Advocates say that immigration authorities in the US allegedly didn’t believe her concerns and deported her back to her native country.

Aislinn Odaly’s, an LGBTI rights advocate, told the Blade: ‘She migrated to the US because of threats that she had received, but she was deported because they didn’t believe her.’

This case is a magnifying glass on immigration policies in the United States.

Last week, Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the border wall he wants along the US-Mexico border. He did this over a perceived ‘crisis’ at the border caused by illegal immigration.

This, however, affects LGBTI people fleeing the violence and discrimination in their home countries, as seen in the case of Camila.

Even when immigrants make it to the United States, though, they face new obstacles. A recent report revealed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently holding over 100 transgender individuals.

One trans woman, Roxsana Hernández, died in ICE custody last year.