Democrat legislators want President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to comply with pro-transgender rules set by President Barack Obama in 2015.
The legislators are pushing the pro-transgender policies despite Trump’s policy of reestablishing the legal recognition of fundamental biological differences between men and women Obama sought to abolish.
For example, Obama’s pro-transgender policy sought to place migrant men who say they are “transgender women” in detention facilities with women. Obama’s rules would also have provided foreign migrants with expensive hormones that help them change their sexual appearance, even when migrants could not afford those medications in their home countries.
In contrast, Trump’s deputies have kept roughly 100 people who say they are transgender in separate facilities, so minimizing the risk of sexual abuse. The separate accommodation also rejects the Obama policy that says that men who merely say they are women should be placed in women’s detention centers, even if they have not had surgery.
“Democratic lawmakers are pushing ICE to enforce the agency’s existing detention standards for transgender immigrants laid out in a 2015 memo,” according to a report by Reuters:
The memo, signed by former ICE Director Thomas Homan during the Obama administration, offers such protections as allowing immigrants to be housed according to their gender identity (transgender women with other women, for instance), as well as to be given access to medically necessary hormone therapy and mental health care.
The transgender policy agenda is hidden inside the Reuters report, which showcases complaints from some of the roughly 100 asylum-seeking migrants who wish to live as members of the other sex.
The report was leaked to Reuters by Democratic staffers who are pushing for the unpopular pro-transgender policy change:
Details of the inspections of the transgender unit at the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, which have not been reported previously, were contained in internal reports from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) health corps and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) civil rights office.
The problems, which led to the transfer of all detainees to other facilities in January, were described to Reuters by congressional aides who were briefed on the documents and spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the complaints are thin gruel:
Federal inspections of the U.S. government’s only dedicated detention unit for transgender immigrants last year found hundreds of unanswered requests for medical attention, poor quarantine procedures and deficient treatment for mental illnesses and other chronic diseases, Reuters has learned.
In general, the Democrats’ transgender ideology says that Americans must accept that each person’s biological sex is subordinate to their “Gender Identity.” For example, if a male says he has a female “Gender identity,” regardless of his male biology, the Department of Justice would require Americans to treat him as a woman in bathrooms, sports, K-12 changing rooms, and other social or workplace circumstances.
The Reuters’ report downplays the aggressive transgender ideology as merely “protections,” without noting the costs and risks to the 99 percent of ordinary Americans:
Since taking office in 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump has rolled back protections for transgender people in the U.S. military, public schools and federal prisons.
Less than one percent of Americans say they are transgender; only a small minority of men who say they are women undergo genital cosmetic surgery.
In 2017 and 2018, Donald Trump ditched Obama’s rules and restored normal biological distinctions in federal regulations. For example, his Pentagon deputies adopted the “bright line of biology” when deciding if recruits are male or female, prison officials were told to assign people to jails that match their sex, and shelter operators were allowed to decide if men should be excluded from women’s shelters.
When processing migrants and asylum seekers, “ICE is committed to upholding an immigration detention system that prioritizes the health, safety, and welfare of all of those in our care in custody, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals,” DHS told Breitbart News:
Decisions related to the location where individuals will be detained are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account several factors, including – but not limited to – a transgender individual’s preference, the safety and well-being of the detainee and their ties to the community.
A lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) detainee, like all detainees, can be housed in a separate or dedicated unit (as applicable), with general population (male or female), or in protective custody.
The DHS also provided background on the agency’s response to migrants who want to live as a member of the opposite sex, some of whom also carry the HIV virus:
Safety
Housing determinations are made on a case-by-case basis. Currently, all 14 transgender individuals recently transferred to NWIPC are being housed together at their request. The PBNDS includes important enhanced protections for detainees who may be more vulnerable due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Additionally, revised ICE detention standards maximize access to counsel, visitation, religious practices, and recreation; improve the agency’s prevention of, and response to, sexual abuse or assault that may occur in detention facilities; and strengthen guidelines for quality medical, mental health, and dental care.
Medical
With regard to medical treatment, each detainee (including transgender individuals) receives a comprehensive medical, dental, and mental health intake screening as soon as possible, but no later than 12 hours after arrival at a detention facility. Each detainee also receives a comprehensive health assessment, including a physical examination and mental health screening, by a qualified, licensed health care professional no later than 14 days after entering into ICE custody or arrival at a facility. Furthermore, all individuals in ICE custody have the unrestricted opportunity to freely request health care services – to include mental health and dental services – provided by a physician or other qualified medical staff in a clinical setting. All sick call requests are received and triaged by appropriate medical personnel within 24 hours after a detainee submits the request. Under the Medical Care section of the ICE 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards (2011 PBNDS), transgender detainees who were already receiving hormone therapy when taken into ICE custody shall have continued access. All transgender detainees are also to be afforded transgender-related healthcare.
ICE also recognizes the unique, long-term health care management needs of detainees who identify as transgender and wants to ensure transgender detainees have access to every resource available at ICE’s disposal. In January 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transferred all detainees with chronic conditions, including the 27 transgender detainees, out of the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico. While general population detainees were transferred to the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, the majority of the transgender detainees were transferred to the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, or the Northwest Detention Center
in Tacoma, Washington. In January 2020, on average, ICE had nearly 100 self-identified transgender detainees housed in various facilities nationwide.
…
In the wake of the December 2019 report, in addition to transferring all transgender detainees out of Cibola, ICE reported that the following corrective actions were implemented: concerning the completion of laboratory orders, a certified phlebotomist staff member was assigned to complete all backlogged labs by December 10; a new Clinical Medical Authority began “on-the-job” education in both proper lab procedures and documentation of labs into the electronic medical records on December 16; and, the clinical nurse specialist or designee, was also instructed on December 16 to print off a lab list daily and review for any overdue lab needing to be performed. Additionally, beginning January 2, 2020, CoreCivic began conducting a monthly Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) study over 90 days to verify lab collection procedures are followed. All staff have also been educated on relevant detention standards, the use and documentation of the refusal form per CoreCivic policy and procedure, and medication policies.
Additionally, ICE has ensured the most commonly used HIV medications were added to the pharmacy inventory at Cibola, at CoreCivic’s expense, to prevent any delays in providing the medications to detainees upon release, and also set up a courier service with Cibola’s “back up” pharmacy via Diamond Pharmacy services and have notified the pharmacy of the HIV medications that should be stocked.
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