SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Johana Medina died Saturday in ICE Custody. (Image: Diversidad Sin Ffonteras, Facebook)
Trans Woman Dies in ICE Custody On the First Day of Pride
"For weeks, she pleaded for medical help."
Jun 02, 2019
A Salvadoran trans woman died in ICE custody on June 1, the first day of Pride Month.
Johana Medina was a migrant from El Salvador. She was seeking asylum in the U.S.
Known to her friends as Joa, Johana passed away Saturday night from complications due to HIV/AIDS. Her death was announced on the Diversidad Sin Fronteras Facebook page on Sunday.
In a statement, Casa Migrante trans leader Grecia, who was close with Johana, said that ICE agents ignored Johana's pleas for help as her illness became worse while in custody.
"For weeks, she pleaded for medical help, referring to health problems caused by complications with HIV/AIDS," said Grecia. "After two months of suffering, Joana became extremely ill and unconscious forcing ICE to take her to Las Palmas del Sol Hospital in El Paso, Texas."
Grecia visited Johana in the intensive care unit at the hospital and likened her friend's condition to that of Roxana Hernandez, a trans woman who died in ICE custody in May 2018 under still unclear circumstances.
"When I looked at her I said that what happened a year ago to Roxana in the month of May could happen to Joa right in there," said Grecia. "And it did."
At least 25 people have died in ICE custody over the past two years, including six children. Conditions in holding facilities, as Common Dreams reported Friday, are so bad that overcrowding is making it hard for people to breathe.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A Salvadoran trans woman died in ICE custody on June 1, the first day of Pride Month.
Johana Medina was a migrant from El Salvador. She was seeking asylum in the U.S.
Known to her friends as Joa, Johana passed away Saturday night from complications due to HIV/AIDS. Her death was announced on the Diversidad Sin Fronteras Facebook page on Sunday.
In a statement, Casa Migrante trans leader Grecia, who was close with Johana, said that ICE agents ignored Johana's pleas for help as her illness became worse while in custody.
"For weeks, she pleaded for medical help, referring to health problems caused by complications with HIV/AIDS," said Grecia. "After two months of suffering, Joana became extremely ill and unconscious forcing ICE to take her to Las Palmas del Sol Hospital in El Paso, Texas."
Grecia visited Johana in the intensive care unit at the hospital and likened her friend's condition to that of Roxana Hernandez, a trans woman who died in ICE custody in May 2018 under still unclear circumstances.
"When I looked at her I said that what happened a year ago to Roxana in the month of May could happen to Joa right in there," said Grecia. "And it did."
At least 25 people have died in ICE custody over the past two years, including six children. Conditions in holding facilities, as Common Dreams reported Friday, are so bad that overcrowding is making it hard for people to breathe.
A Salvadoran trans woman died in ICE custody on June 1, the first day of Pride Month.
Johana Medina was a migrant from El Salvador. She was seeking asylum in the U.S.
Known to her friends as Joa, Johana passed away Saturday night from complications due to HIV/AIDS. Her death was announced on the Diversidad Sin Fronteras Facebook page on Sunday.
In a statement, Casa Migrante trans leader Grecia, who was close with Johana, said that ICE agents ignored Johana's pleas for help as her illness became worse while in custody.
"For weeks, she pleaded for medical help, referring to health problems caused by complications with HIV/AIDS," said Grecia. "After two months of suffering, Joana became extremely ill and unconscious forcing ICE to take her to Las Palmas del Sol Hospital in El Paso, Texas."
Grecia visited Johana in the intensive care unit at the hospital and likened her friend's condition to that of Roxana Hernandez, a trans woman who died in ICE custody in May 2018 under still unclear circumstances.
"When I looked at her I said that what happened a year ago to Roxana in the month of May could happen to Joa right in there," said Grecia. "And it did."
At least 25 people have died in ICE custody over the past two years, including six children. Conditions in holding facilities, as Common Dreams reported Friday, are so bad that overcrowding is making it hard for people to breathe.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.