ICE Detained a Queer Migrant Rights Organizer During a Check-In, Then Placed Her in a Men’s Facility.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a Phoenix-based immigrant rights organizer during a scheduled check-in earlier this month, a move fellow organizers say is retaliation for her role in pushing for the release of another queer detainee.

Karla Saenz, an organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was taken into custody March 9 during a routine appointment with immigration officials in Phoenix, according to an eyewitness and Trans Queer Pueblo volunteer.

“They took us to a back room and said Karla had an arrest warrant but they did not provide one. They handcuffed Karla and took her away,” said Cristen Pointer, who was with Saenz when she was arrested.  

Saenz is now being held at the Eloy Detention Center, a sprawling immigration facility about 60 miles southeast of the city.

ICE officials have claimed Saenz missed prior check-ins, according to advocates familiar with the case. But she and her supporters dispute that account, saying she had consistently complied with supervision requirements, including showing up for her appointments.

Advocates and members of Trans Queer Pueblo argue the detention is retaliatory, pointing to Saenz’s visible role in organizing against immigration enforcement and detention practices in Arizona. ICE did not immediately respond to questions about the arrest.

“She’s still feeling very positive and willing to fight both legally and publicly,” said a member of Trans Queer Pueblo who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation.

For the first two days in detention, Saenz — a transgender woman — was held in a men’s-only ward, according to her friends and family. They said she also contracted COVID-19 while inside. 

Saenz has been a prominent and visible supporter of Arbella “Yari” Marquez, whose case recently drew attention after immigration authorities detained her despite years of living in the United States with her partner and community. In detention, Marquez’s leukemia has returned. She is now regularly vomiting blood and has lost more than 70 pounds, according to letters from Marquez and statements from her friends and loved ones.

“These attacks disproportionately impact already marginalized communities and undermine community engagement and silence dissent,” said Luz Canela, communications director for Familia Trans Queer Liberation, in a press release.

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Since Saenz’s detention, shockwaves have moved through the organization’s network of members and supporters, many of whom live under the same system of regular immigration check-ins.

Saenz is currently detained at the Eloy Detention Center, one of the largest immigration detention facilities in the country. The facility has long drawn criticism from immigrant rights advocates over detention conditions and the role of private prison contractors in operating immigration facilities.

It has also come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks following the death of a detainee in ICE custody.

Eloy is one of the nation’s deadliest detention centers. A recent report from the Florence Immigration & Refugee Rights Project cited the facility’s consistent “medical neglect, mistreatment during mental health crises, broken air conditioning in the midst of the Arizona summer, verbal and physical abuse by guards, and aggressive and invasive strip searches.”

In early March, a Haitian man detained at another detention center in Arizona died after reportedly struggling for weeks to receive treatment for severe tooth pain. The man, identified as Emmanuel Damas, began complaining of pain in mid-February before his condition worsened, and he was eventually transferred to a hospital, where he died.

Damas’ death has prompted calls from lawmakers and advocacy groups for an investigation into medical care inside ICE detention facilities.

“A toothache should not be a death sentence,” U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who represents southern Arizona, said in a press release about Damas. “How many more people have to die at federal detention facilities before we say enough is enough?”

U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who represents south Phoenix and invited Marquez’s partner to attend this year’s State of the Union, has visited Eloy multiple times and called out the medical neglect and other abuses. “The way ICE treats people in detention is absolutely appalling, especially transgender individuals. It’s sickening and deeply un-American,” she told LOOKOUT in a statement.

Ansari said she has visited detention centers in Arizona seven times, finding inhumane treatment in all of them. “ICE and companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group quite literally have billions of dollars and yet are choosing to treat human beings like animals. I won’t stop exposing and fighting against Trump’s cruel mass deportation agenda,” she said.

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Immigration detention poses particular dangers for LGBTQ+ migrants, especially transgender and nonbinary people. Reports and lawsuits have documented cases of harassment, isolation and denial of gender-affirming medical care inside immigration detention facilities. In some cases, LGBTQ+ detainees have been placed in prolonged solitary confinement. 

In Eloy, for example, an openly gay detainee claimed multiple instances of abuse in an official complaint filed against CoreCivic last summer. 

Organizations like Trans Queer Pueblo have spent years campaigning against the detention of LGBTQ+ migrants.

Members of Trans Queer Pueblo and allied immigrant rights groups are now calling for Saenz’s release and demanding transparency from immigration authorities about the circumstances of her arrest.