March 9, 2026

ICE and CoreCivic detained trans asylum seeker Karla Saenz in Eloy's men's unit, denied her hormone care, and held her in solitary

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old transgender asylum seeker and Trans Queer Pueblo organizer, during a March 9, 2026 check-in at USCIS offices in Phoenix, and held her for 44 days at CoreCivic's Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She said she was held in solitary confinement for five days, denied hormone treatment and chronic-illness medication for weeks, housed in the facility's men's unit and misgendered by staff, and pressured more than ten times to sign a voluntary-departure form before a federal judge ordered her release on April 21. ICE disputed her account, calling the mistreatment allegations "entirely false."

Jurisdiction: Federal
Location: Eloy, Arizona

Abuses documented

Actors

On March 9, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old transgender asylum seeker from Venezuela and an organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, during what she believed was a routine check-in at USCIS offices in Phoenix, and held her for 44 days at CoreCivic's Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. Saenz said she spent the first five days in solitary confinement after testing positive for COVID-19, was then held for the remainder of her detention in the facility's men's unit, and was called by her deadname and male pronouns by staff despite repeated requests to be treated as a woman. She said she was denied hormone treatment and medication for a chronic illness for weeks, described guards ignoring complaints about transphobic treatment and inadequate food, and said staff pressured her more than ten times to sign a voluntary-departure form, which she refused each time. Saenz also said she experienced sexual harassment from other detainees while housed in the men's unit.

Saenz had spent the prior year publicly advocating for Arbella "Yari" Marquez, another detainee held in the same facility's women's unit, and said her own detention was retaliation for that advocacy: "They have me locked up without any reason except I'm trans, Black and an immigrant, because I raised my voice." ICE disputed her account in a statement that referred to her by her legal name and male pronouns, calling her mistreatment allegations "entirely false" and saying she had filed no grievances while detained; the agency said detainees are treated "equally, with respect and dignity."

Saenz separately described similar denial of food, hygiene access, and medical care in an interview with Tucson NBC affiliate KVOA. ICE has not published data on transgender detainees in its custody since February 2025, making it difficult for advocates to independently verify conditions transgender detainees face system-wide.

Updates

2026-04-21 — Federal judge ordered Saenz's release [2]

A federal judge ordered Saenz's release from CoreCivic's Eloy Detention Center on April 21, 2026, and she was freed the next day.

Why we recorded this

Detained people, including asylum seekers, retain a right to be free from cruel treatment and to have their gender identity respected while in government custody. ICE and its private detention contractor CoreCivic held a transgender asylum seeker in a men's unit for six weeks, put her in solitary confinement, and denied her hormone treatment and chronic-illness medication for weeks, according to her own detailed account. This archive records it because conditions inside immigration detention are largely shielded from outside verification -- ICE stopped publishing data on transgender detainees in February 2025 -- leaving detainees' own accounts as one of the few available checks on how the government treats a population it holds and controls.

Sources

A Trans Woman Detained in a Deadly Arizona Detention Center Refuses to be Silent — Lookout News / High Country News primary accessed August 10, 2026
Judge orders release of trans woman held in ICE detention — The Advocate secondary accessed August 10, 2026