A transgender woman seeking U.S. asylum
who died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
was beaten shortly before her death, an autopsy released Monday
found.
The 33-year-old Honduran woman,
identified by advocates as Roxana Hernandez (also spelled Roxanna and
Roxsana in other reports), died in May. She traveled more than 2,000
miles with a caravan of Central American migrants to reach the U.S.
Border.
According to The
Daily Beast, Hernandez was likely physically abused while in
ICE custody in New Mexico. She died after several days of untreated
dehydration.
The autopsy revealed trauma “indicative
of blows and/or kicks” and “possible strikes with a blunt
object.”
“She journeyed thousands of miles
fleeing persecution and torture at home only to be met with neglect
and torture in this country’s for-profit human cages,” said
Andrew Free, who is representing Hernandez’s family.
According to The
Arizona Republic, Hernandez was being held in the transgender
unit at the Cibola County Detention Center in Milan, New Mexico. She
was transferred to Cibola General Hospital then airlifted to Lovelace
Medical Center in Albuquerque. ICE officials said that Hernandez was
suffering from complications related to HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS.
Forensic pathologist Kris Sperry wrote
that Hernandez did not receive medical care for multiple days “until
she was gravely ill.”
“[At Cibola County Detention Center]
she developed severe diarrhea and vomiting over the course of several
days, and finally was emergency hospitalized, then transported to
Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she
remained critically ill until her death,” Sperry wrote.
Flor Bermudez, legal director at the
Transgender Law Center, said in May that the incident showed that ICE
“is incapable of protecting transgender women in detention” and
that “transgender people should not be detained by ICE at all.”
“It is alarming that transgender
communities continue to face transphobic violence outside and inside
of detention walls,” Bermudez said.