San Pedro Soloma, Guatemala, a community tucked away in the Sierra de la Cuchumatanes hills and known as El Valle del Ensueo, or the Valley of Dreams, is where Estrella Santos- Zacaria has come from.
Santos and Zacaria had been frantically trying to get away for decades.
She made an attempt to immigrate to the United States in 2008 out of concern that the crime she had experienced as a trans woman due to her sexual orientation and identity might result in her death. She has since experienced two deportations.
However, her case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in January. Other immigrants facing deportation may also benefit from the decision because it removes a procedural barrier for noncitizens seeking judicial review of decisions made by the Board of Immigration Appeals ( BIA ), an administrative appellate body within the U.S. Department of Justice. On May 11, Santos-Zacaria won the right to further challenge her deportedation.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s decision by the Supreme Court also represents a significant advancement in the institution” recognition of trans people. Estrella, Santos-Zacaria’s chosen title, was used throughout, along with her previous given title.
The Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative ( SIFI ) of the Southern Poverty Law Center had never before brought a case before the US Supreme Court. For asylum applicants being held in immigrant detention facilities in the Deep South, SIFI offers free legal representation.
Peter Isbister, older lead counsel for SIFI, said,” What Estrella has won is the right to maintain fighting.” And without her group of volunteer attorneys, that would not have been possible. Circumstances and customers like Estrella are the reason SIFI is so committed to running a pro bono program.
” Living in fear”
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Estrella Santos- Zacaria, a trans woman from Guatemala who is applying for asylum in the United States, discusses the number of setbacks she has experienced over the past few years.
Santos- Zacaria has n’t visited Guatemala in about seven times. To destroy her father, that was for a year. She kept turning her head to look behind her.
She remarked,” I was anxious the entire time.” ” After a few days, I told my mother that I wanted to leave because I could n’t be at peace. I stayed, though, because she asked me to do so for the death. I quickly left after that because I could n’t stop thinking about my rapist.
Santos- Zacaria was aware from a young age that the gender she had been given at birth did not accurately represent who she was. When she was seven years old, she recalled rummaging through her daughter’s wardrobe, reaching for gowns, and testing their flattery on her neck. Santos- Zacaria was encouraged by her girlfriend, who complimented her on how lovely she appeared dressed up in her shoes and clothes.
My foot had hardly fit in them, she said, and now that I think about it, I laugh.
Although they might never have originally been willing to accept Santos- Zacaria’s true identity, her family was loving. She was teased by her brothers because she preferred to play with her daughter’s dolls to playing sports with them.
” My family and I both understood that I was unique.” I recall her saying,” I would’ve loved if you were a lady,” to me once.
Outside of their house, points were more challenging.
Santos- Zacaria made friends with a town boy who shared her interest in boys. In the beautiful, green fields that surrounded the settlement, they frequently played together. Then he left one time. She experienced loneliness and was unaware of how she would get a new companion who felt the same way. Eventually, she agreed to play a sport in the areas with another child when he asked her to.
Santos- Zacaria remarked,” That’s when I experienced my second rape.” If I ever said anything, he threatened to kill my mother and my home. I simply kept it to myself because I did n’t want anything negative to occur to them.
Her family observed a shift. When she questioned Santos- Zacaria about why she did n’t want to go outside, she either pretended to be ill or came up with other justifications. She retreated out of fear. She had already left Soloma by the time she was 16 out of concern that her assailant may follow through on his threats. She entered Chiapas, Mexico, a condition that has recently experienced an upsurge in violence fueled by organized crime, as she moved toward Guatemala’s northwest border. Due to political unrest, oppression, and a lack of employment, Chiapas has turned into an outpost for immigrants and those seeking asylum.
Santos- Zacaria became more frightened as he faced threats of violence and little made enough money to get by.
” I endured a lot of pain. I was sexually assaulted and raped, she claimed. ” I was savagely attacked last time, and those who saw it believed I was going to pass away.” After that, I begged my manager to let me return home every day before it got darker because my assailant was still on the prowl. My boss reduced my pay because I could n’t finish my shifts.
” I ca n’t imagine returning to Chiapas or Guatemala and constantly being in fear.”
detained and sent home
Estrella Santos-Zacaria in her Southern California room. ( Credit: Cheung, Philip )
In 2008, when she was 17 years old, Santos- Zacaria made her second attempt to immigrate to the United States. She was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) in the same year. She tried suddenly in 2018 and was held at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana, one of nearly a dozen locations in the Southeast where SPLC lawyers offer free legal service to those who are being held.
Benjamin Osorio, a secret immigration lawyer who had previously served as pro bono lawyers in SPLC cases, was contacted by Isbister, the law firm’s lawyer. After learning more about Santos- Zacaria’s history, Osorio, who had recently resided in Guatemala, took on the situation. He claimed to comprehend how corruption and a lack of government resources had make it challenging for her to live it properly.
Because of her gender identity and sexual preference, she had endured horrifying sexual assault and discrimination, Osorio claimed. On LGBTQ+ problems, the nation is not as liberal.
Santos- Zacaria has Aboriginal ancestry, and she speaks Q’anjob’al, a unit of the Mayan language, as her first language. There is still prejudice against Aboriginal people in Guatemala, and some of these places simply speak Mayan languages. I do n’t believe there is a chance in the world that she would go to the police and seek active protection, Osorio said.
In the fall of 2018, Osorio took on Santos-Zacaria’s event. He unsuccessfully challenged her treatment before filing an immigration appeal with the Board of Appeals. That, he fell short once more. Although the BIA acknowledged that Santos- Zacaria had been persecuted in Guatemala, it argued that since then, the situation there had improved. Santos- Zacaria was deported by ICE in soon 2019. She went back to Chiapas and waited for some glimmer of hope.
Finally, she understood.
What I’ve always wanted is security.
Osorio filed the case with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, contending that the BIA’s discovery of altered circumstances, a scientific conclusion the immigration judge not made, and an issue it lacks the authority to address had led to new lawful errors in its judgment. However, the appellate court dismissed the appeal because Osorio had n’t brought this matter before the BIA.
In fact, the case revolved around a legal question, especially whether Santos-Zacaria had used all of her legal options before submitting an appeal to the 5th Circuit.
Isbister stated that the key question in the case was whether it was possible to appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals without making a movement for revision at the Board of Immigration Appeal.
Osorio persisted in his struggle. He collaborated with Paul Hughes, a McDermott Will &, Emery, Supreme Court lawyer, to take the case to the highest court in the country. It made a majority decision in Santos- Zacaria’s prefer in May.
The Circuit Court of Appeals should have more leeway when hearing cases, the Supreme Court ruled, even though noncitizens must use all administrative choices, including immigration judges, before moving there. According to Osorio, the ruling gives the Circuit Court more authority to consider issues over which it formerly had jurisdiction and gives appellants more accessibility to judicial review.
I was shocked by the number of situations that had been appealed to the Supreme Court. You do n’t have a right to the Supreme Court hearing your case, he claimed.
In actuality, the jury hears over 7,000 appeals annually and decides to take no more than 150 cases.
Late in the summer, Santos-Zacaria made her way back to the United States, where she now resides in Southern California while she waits for her next chance at the Fifth Circuit. Living close to her two sons makes her feel more at home.
” I am incredibly joyful. When we are together, I really feel secure. I’ve always wanted and searched for protection. Socializing with the LGBTQ area and experiencing assistance from others are both positive experiences.
Estrella Santos-Zacaria can now task her imprisonment thanks to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. ( Credit: Cheung, Philip )
