Trans activist denied basic rights & medical care in ICE custody: "They did not give us enough food"https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/04/trans-activist-denied-basic-rights-medical-care-in-ice-custody-they-did-not-give-us-enough-food/ 🔗John Russell (30 April 2026)
A transgender immigrant rights activist is speaking out about the deplorable conditions she endured while detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including being placed in a men's facility and being denied hormone therapy medication.
"They did not give us enough food and I spent a week without being allowed to bathe," Karla Saenz said this week, according to local NBC affiliate KVOA. "ICE took a month to give me my medication. Having my treatment abruptly taken away caused severe pain in my body as well as my mental health."
Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered Saenz's release from Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, where she had been held since early March, after she was taken into ICE custody during a scheduled check-in with immigration officials in Phoenix, according to LGBTQ+ outlet Lookout. Eloy has been cited for medical neglect and physical abuse, among numerous other abuses, in a recent report from the Florence Immigration & Refugee Rights Project.
As The New York Times reported earlier this year, under the Trump administration, federal agents have arrested thousands of people showing up for routine immigration appointments and court hearings. Immigrant rights advocates say the tactic has effectively turned a mandatory part of the legal immigration process into a trap.
