Prominent Tucson Family Advocating for Trans and Migrant Rights Flees U.S.

A well-known Tucson family that has spent years on the front lines of transgender and immigrant rights advocacy has fled the United States, saying President Donald Trump’s escalating threats against immigrants — regardless of legal status — and transgender people left them with no other choice.

The Trujillo family — Lizette, her husband Jose, and their son Daniel — said they left Arizona in a preemptive move to protect themselves from what they described as a federal government increasingly hostile to people like them: immigrants, Latinos, and trans youth.

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“After a decade of advocating for the rights of our son, we made the difficult and hasty decision to leave the country,” Lizette wrote in a social media post. She cited heightened ICE activity in their Tucson neighborhood and said that even though Jose is a U.S. citizen, “this administration seems not to care about people’s legal status.”

The Trujillos have launched a GoFundMe campaign to support their relocation abroad. You can find the campaign link here.

Daniel, who came out as transgender as a child, has been honored by the ACLU, the Gender Liberation Movement, GLSEN, and the Human Rights Campaign for his advocacy and visibility on behalf of trans youth.

Lizette, a community leader who serves on several Tucson-based boards, has long been a fierce advocate for migrant rights and support systems for trans youth and their families across Southern Arizona.

Jose was featured in the Netflix documentary The Dads, which highlights fathers who stand by their transgender children in the face of growing national hostility.

The Trujillos are not the only people who have fled. Earlier this year, LOOKOUT and The 19th reported on how multiple queer people have considered or have already started fleeing Arizona as executive orders and local governments feel more emboldened to attack LGBTQ+ people.

Lizette was also quoted in our story we wrote with the Arizona Agenda on how parents like her were keeping away from the Capitol due to fear that lawmakers would target them and their children for speaking up in favor of transgender rights.