Roadmap of Report

amount of information about the migration experiences of adult women detained at Karnes in 2019. This information is illustrative and may be representative of the horrors and barriers to safety that exist in immigration prisons around the country. The authors’ purpose is to share this information in furtherance of the end of immigration detention and the end of the expedited removal process.

AUTHORS’ NOTE ABOUT GENDER

Prison limits the opportunities for individuals to safely express their gender, and detained transgender people face extended periods of isolation, inadequate medical care, and various forms of abuse.1 Transgender and gender-nonconforming migrants also face the systemic harm of misgendering in ICE detention. Upon arrival to the U.S., they often find themselves incarcerated without adequate access to medical care and within a system that continues to mirror or exacerbate the harms they fled. It is important to note that while this report uses the word “woman” generally for all clients detained during the time period covered, the term likely does not encompass the entire spectrum of gender identities of the adults detained at Karnes at the time. As the limitations of emergency legal services in detention required intakes to frequently be completed in a group setting, RAICES did not universally ask clients their gender at the intake phase. As such, RAICES does not know how many trans and/or gender nonconforming individuals were detained at Karnes during this period. The authors acknowledge that use of the word “woman” here may perpetuate any misgendering that occurred at the hands of ICE and that misgendering is a form of harm.

1. N/A. “Do You See How Much I’m Suffering Here?” Abuse Against Transgender Women In US Immigration Detention. Human Rights Watch. Mar. 13, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/ report/2016/03/24/do-you-see-how-much-im-suffering-here/ abuse-against-transgender-women-us

2. Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas, 27 F.4th 718 (D.C. Cir. 2022)

BORDER ENFORCEMENT POLICY CHANGES OFTEN AND QUICKLY.

Border Enforcement Policy changes often and quickly. The Biden Administration has continued the Trump Administration’s use of CDC authority under Title 42 of the U.S. Code to effectively close the border to asylum seekers. The ACLU, along with RAICES as co-counsel and others, sued the Biden Administration over its use of Title 42 against family units in a lawsuit known as Huisha Huisha v. Mayorkas, 21cv5200 (D.D.C.) (“Huisha Huisha”). 2 During the pendency of litigation, the Administration permitted thousands of individuals and families to lawfully enter the United States to seek asylum through an opaque “exemption” referral process. In effect, families would either be permitted entry to seek asylum without going through Expedited Removal, or would be expelled under Title 42.

However, in late July 2021, the Administration announced that it would resume the use of Expedited Removal against families for whom CBP did not register a fear of return to their home countries. A week later though, the government and the ACLU, along with co-counsel, announced that they would end the litigation abeyance and return to court in Huisha Huisha. Simultaneously the Administration issued its own updated Title 42 order so as to no longer rely on the previous Trump Administration order. Therefore, as of the time of this report, it appears that the Biden administration likely did not subject many, if any, families to Expedited Removal and instead is expected to continue to expel families under Title 42.