Alexandra Reyes, a Mexican native born Carlos Reyes, who has been living as a girl since age 8, will be allowed to stay in the United States after her asylum application was approved. Facing harassment, a knife attack from her aunt, and being tied up to a tree and beaten by her father for being transgender, Alexandra sought police protection, but Mexican official turned a blind eye, so in 2001 she paid to cross the border illegally. Now 32, Alexandra lives in the Denver area, where she’ll likely be for quite some time, thanks to Board of Immigration Appeals judge agreeing she would not be safe if forced home, since Mexican authorities refused to ensure her safety. Last year she faced deportation after a cab driver, whose $500 bill Alexandra couldn’t pay at the time, called immigration officials, sending her to an 11-month confinement at a detention facility. For men.
Oh boy
As much as I sympathize with her situation…there were not other areas of Mexico she could go to be away from her family? Mexico is a big country.
Also – it is not a good idea to run up a $500 cab bill if you can’t pay it. This is a nation of laws and order.
This is where my understanding ends. It is not the responsibility of the United States to take in and take care of every transexual on the planet. It is not written in our Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Raul
Well, on the bright side she will be paying taxes now instead of being illegaly at the US.
And I agree. Im mexicano and this is more of a “I prefer the first world than a 3rd world country”. Discrimination at the USA and Mexico is not really that different. But drama is the game we have to play to stay at the USA.
J.
I feel for her, but there are plenty of places in Mexico to go that should be safe. Mexico City legalizes gay marriage for Christ’s sake. It isn’t Africa. I just think she wants a free ride to the States.
missanthrope
A Mexican trans woman does what she was to has to do to survive and some queerty readers respond with reflexive transphobia and racism. No surprise there.
“Also – it is not a good idea to run up a $500 cab bill if you can’t pay it. This is a nation of laws and order.”
“This is where my understanding ends.”
And where your sociopathic lack of empathy begins unfortunately.
Her physical safety > cab bill. Period.
And what the fuck does this have to do with the constitution? The constitution is violated everytime the president declares wars without the consent of congress, every day Gitmo stays open, with every “military commission”.
I wonder how many letters to the editor or protests you have done for that? Yet when one impoverished Mexican trans woman comes here without documentation doing what she feels she need to do to survive, people start screaming “Constitution” for some bizarre reason.
And the treatment of gays in Mexico is not the same as treatment of trans people in Mexico, just because the Federal District has gay marriage does jack shit for the physical safety of trans people or gay people in Mexico, it’s a red herring and proves nothing. You can have gay marriage all over the world and gay and trans people will still be murdered because of homophobia and transphobia. To think that legalize gay marriage solves these problems or evidence these problems do not exist is delusional.
If you’re for “law and order”, it seems that the rich are little above “law and order” in the very same state where this very story happened. Yet nobody cares about this. It’s easier to beat up on some woman who has already been victimized because it’s easy for people to do so and endemic racism enables it.
http://endablog.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/we-are-now-france-and-the-year-just-became-1789/
The moral cowardice of some of these comments is stomach churning.
Fabiola
How bad is it for being GAY and still discriminate other LGTB.
USA besides being “the land of the free” -ha!- … is “the land of the beat the system” (i.e. You can sue a restaurant for serving you over-heated coffee that burns you if your clumsy enough to drop your cup; where in the rest of the world your just a simply stupid person).
So what did Alejandra Reyes did? Use the United States system, to do something illegal to make it legal (wink wink). So instead of being hateful for her brightness, go build your self a time machine and have a chat with your Four Fathers before signing any type of document that will make your life so sorrow.
boo whoo!
Saludos!
Fabi.
P.S. Missanthrope, loved your statement.