Nicoll Hernández-Polanco tried to enter this country twice when she was 17. The Guatemalan native was caught and deported.
In October of 2014, Nicoll again crossed the Sonora desert to the Arizona border. This time she turned herself in and asked for asylum. Guatemala is one of the most dangerous countries in the Western Hemisphere for transgender women, battling for second with Honduras behind Brazil.
Having experienced about a decade of sexual and physical abuse in Guatemala and then Mexico, ICE threw the new fish into the shark tank that is their Florence, AZ all-male detention center. Since she has been there she has been assaulted by another detainee, forced to shower with men, verbally abused by both the guards and the other inmates, and placed in solitary confinement for standing up for herself.
Mariposas Sin Fronteras (Butterflies without borders), the Transgender Law Center, and other LGBT and immigration rights advocates have been fighting for her release…for an end to the torture…but ICE refuses to budge. In their eyes, her deportation is a priority because of her two previous deportations.