Trump eliminates rape protections for trans people in ICE facilities and prisons
ICE agents detain a woman after pulling her from a car on 13 January, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.(Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
ICE agents detain a woman after pulling her from a car on 13 January, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.(Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
US president Donald Trump has ended rape protections for trans inmates in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and US prisons, in a move that further attacks the trans community.
Guidance was released this month by the Department of Homeland Security for several privately-run ICE facilities, where, as of 8 January, 68,990 people are being held – a record high.
The Department of Justice is also working to remove rules protecting LGBTQ+ people from sexual abuse in prisons.
According to reporting by the American Prospect, at least six ICE detention facilities, mostly run by private prison companies, have updated government contracts to remove safeguards against rape and other protections for trans inmates.
Multiple detention centres, including some in Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia and multiple facilities in Texas, have removed safety measures and halted medical care for trans prisoners.
The updated contracts cite Trump’s executive order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism” as the reason for changes. Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility language has also been revoked in line with Trump’s orders.
Bridget Crawford, director of law and policy at Immigration Equality, said of the revised trans guidance: “Trans asylum seekers are typically in the US because they’ve already endured ‘incredibly high levels of sexual assault’.
“They’re coming here for protection, and they find themselves in immigration detention, which by law cannot be punitive, but we see that it is.”
At the end of last year, LGBTQ+ immigrants alleged that they faced sexual harassment, medical neglect, coerced labour and abuse at an ICE detention facility in Louisiana.
The Trump administration also admitted to “inadvertently” deporting a transgender woman back to her home country, despite of a court order that ruled she should not be removed there because of a risk of her being tortured.
Multiple politicians and celebrities, including US Congress’ first out gay immigrant member, Robert Garcia, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and pop star Sabrina Carpenter, whose single “Juno” was used on a deportation video, have called out ICE, with the fatal shooting of LGBTQ+ wife and mother Renee Nicole Good acting as a harrowing example of the brutality used by ICE agents.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
