National Immigrant Justice Center

"LGBTQ immigrants in the United States encounter unique obstacles to securing protection and safety, particularly when caught up in the immigration enforcement and detention systems. One in four substantiated incidents of sexual abuse in immigration detention involved a transgender individual over a four-year period. Further, LGBTQ immigrants pursuing claims to protection that are related to their sexual orientation or gender identity often face discriminatory attitudes in the immigration court system that lead to denials of immigration protection and longer periods of detention.

NIJC's LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative provides legal services to LGBTQ immigrants across the country and engages in impact litigation targeting systemic flaws in the immigration system including the discriminatory adjudication of sexual-orientation and gender identity based claims and errors in the interpretation of refugee and asylum law."