A new analysis conducted by the Center for American Progress has found that LGBT immigrants are consistently detained by Immigration & Customs Enforcement, (ICE) even when ICE’s own system recommends release. Sharita Gruberg, CAP Senior Policy Analyst who authored the report stated, “Despite commendable improvements to the immigration detention system in recent years, the data we collected from ICE’s own records show that its detention decisions when considering LGBT immigrants are rife with discrimination. Studies have shown that non-heterosexual persons in prisons or jails are up to 10 times more likely to face sexual assault than heterosexual detainees & nearly 40 percent of transgender detainees were sexually assaulted. In two out of the three cases in 2014 with an explicit release recommendation, ICE officials overruled ICE’s own automated Risk Classification Assessment system & instead chose to keep LGBT persons detained, often without bond & at greater personal risk than members of other communities.” According to the report a study by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General found that ICE officials overrode explicit RCA recommendations only 7.6 percent of the time for the general population but the rate for LGBT immigrants was nearly 20 percent. In only 16 percent of overall cases, the RCA tool gave discretion to ICE officials on whether to detain. That number is contrasted with the 64 percent in LGBT cases.
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This is horrifying....There are so many ways our LGBT community are discriminated against...we wouldn't even know about these things...so thanks for keeping us informed.
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