Rep.
Al Green of Texas is demanding that the federal government extend taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments to illegal immigrants held in U.S. detention facilities, elevating identity politics over border security and the rule of law.
The Democrat congressman appeared at a press conference in Houston alongside the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus and the Montrose Center, where he pressed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide hormone therapies and transgender procedures to individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, according to Gateway Pundit.
His office framed the event as an effort to address the maltreatment of transgender immigrants in ICE detention facilities, signaling yet another attempt by the left to redefine detention standards around progressive social priorities rather than public safety or immigration enforcement.
Green opened the event by casting the issue in the language of civil-rights grievance, insisting that immigration detainees who identify as transgender are being punished because of who they are.
We cannot allow people to be punished because of who they are. I have had a history of experiencing this type of punishment simply because the color of my skin, Greene said, drawing a direct comparison between his own experience and the situation of foreign nationals who entered or remained in the country unlawfully.
At one point, Green read aloud from a letter he addressed to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, alleging that ICE facilities are subjecting transgender-identifying detainees to hazardous conditions by not providing them with gender-transition services.
Greene: Dear Secretary Mullen, I write to express my deep concern over reports of hazardous conditions for transgender immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, detention facilities resulting from deliberate agency policies. Some things bear repeating. This is a result of deliberate agency policies, including the denial of medical care and removal of protections for transgender individuals.
Green claimed that the federal government has recently curtailed specialized medical care for transgender detainees in at least 10 essential cities across the nation, and he amplified activist warnings that such limits can cause physical and mental health complications.
He further argued that transgender women (men) in detention facilities have been placed either with men or in solitary confinement, treating housing decisions for biological males as a civil-rights crisis rather than a basic security and common-sense concern for female detainees.
The congressman also repeated a dubious talking point about supposed policy reversals, asserting that the Trump administration ended a Biden-era policy of reserving detention center units for transgender women, even though the Trump administration preceded President Biden.
Nonetheless, the thrust of his remarks was clear: he wants dedicated, preferential housing and medical protocols for self-identified transgender detainees, a demand that would further burden an already strained immigration system.
Activists from the Montrose Center echoed Greens narrative, highlighting an anecdote about a detainee allegedly denied cross-sex hormones.
Daron Perez, the TransWellness Program Coordinator at the Montrose Center, claimed that a transgender Latino community leader in ICE custody was refused testosterone treatments, and used the story to argue for broad access to such drugs behind bars.
Perez framed the issue in sweeping moral terms, insisting that immigration detention should not interfere with a detainees chosen gender identity or access to controversial medical interventions.
Transgender immigrants should not have to wonder: Will I receive my hormones? Will my identity be respected? Will I be safe? Will anybody care? Being detained should never mean losing your dignity, your safety, or access to necessary medical care, he said, effectively redefining necessary to include elective hormone regimens for individuals who violated U.S. immigration law.
Green went even further, invoking extreme analogies to justify his position that illegal immigrants identifying as transgender are owed expansive medical benefits from the American taxpayer.
In this country, if you engage in mortal combat with us, and if we should wound you, we will give you aid and comfort, knowing that you were there to try to take the lives of American people. In this country, if we can provide aid and comfort to the bank robber, to the person whos engaged in mortal combat with Americans, we surely can provide aid and comfort to persons who have committed no crimes, who are in the care, custody, and control of the government, and who need medical attention.
He concluded by insisting that transgender identity must never be grounds for limiting any form of medical service, placing gender ideology above the basic distinction between citizens and non-citizens, and between essential care and elective procedures.
Medical attention should not be denied any person, especially because of who you happen to be. We treat persons with other illnesses and other health needs on a regular basis in places of incarceration. We cannot allow the exception to this to become persons who are associated with the trans community.
While Green and his allies demand more benefits and specialized treatment for illegal immigrants, many Americans are still grappling with rising healthcare costs, overwhelmed border communities, and a federal government that appears more responsive to activist pressure than to citizens concerns.
The push to prioritize gender-affirming care for those who entered the country unlawfully underscores a broader ideological project on the left: to turn every policy arena, including immigration enforcement, into a vehicle for radical social experimentation at taxpayer expense.
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