May 23, 2016 1:07 PM MST Rebekah WorshamCrime & Justice Examiner


The Obama administration has announced that they will provide federal funding to house illegal immigrants who claim to be transgendered.

According to a report published by Fusion, a new detention facility in Texas will include a unit specifically created for transgendered individuals.

“The facility is expected to house about 700 detainees, including a separate 36-bed unit for transgender individuals,” Carl Rusnok, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement.

Rusnok said the Prairieland Detention Center is slated to open in late 2016 in Alvarado, Texas, and will operate with the agency’s most advanced care guidelines for transgender detainees. Each detainee, Rusnok says, will have an individualized detention plan “covering items such as searches, clothing options, hygiene practices, medical care, and housing assignments,” Rusnok said.

ICE officials say that according to their estimates, there are approximately 65 transgender women in their custody on any given night.

The new facility is contracted to be managed and operated by Emerald Correctional Management, a private prison corporation.

In June 2015, 35 Democrats from the House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson urging him to end the detention of LGBT undocumented immigrants.

“These individuals are extremely vulnerable to abuse, including sexual assault, while in custody, in particular, transgender women housed in men’s detention facilities,” the letter Johnson read.

According to a local newspaper in the area, the Cleburne Times-Review, the facility is expected to cost taxpayers an estimated $42 million.

In addition to housing, ICE officials say they will work with local LGBT organizations in the area “to secure needed assistance and resources from local legal service providers and groups who are able to provide additional programming for transgender detainees.”

Obama administration to fund housing for transgendered illegal immigrants