I-Team: Tax money paying for jailed illegal immigrants' sex-change hormones
Christine Hass/11 News
Posted on December 14, 2010 at 11:30 PM
http://www.khou.com/news/investigative/I-Team-Taxpayers-fund-hormone-treatment-for-illegal-immigrants-in-federal-custody--111900914.htmlHOUSTON – While Texas lawmakers overturned legislation in 2006 that allowed inmates to receive Viagra with tax money, some inmates –including illegal immigrants -- are still receiving prescribed sex hormones behind bars.
Jose Centeno is one of them. He was detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Houston in 2009. Authorities were investigating his immigration status because of a felony conviction for drug possession. ICE prescribed him sex hormones while he was locked up because Centeno said it was medically necessary.
"I'm transgender so I am taking female hormones," he said. "It's not a choice, I was born, and I already knew I was born, in the wrong body, so it wasn't a choice -- I need those meds/hormone therapy to be who I am, but it's not a choice."
