National
EXCLUSIVE: Advocates allege gay ICE detainee not receiving PTSD treatment
Luís Armando Mendoza Sanchez of Perú remains detained in Louisiana


Luís Armando Mendoza Sanchez has been in ICE custody since February. Clement Lee of Immigration Equality acknowledged that PTSD is not uncommon among LGBT immigrants. (Washington Blade file photo)
Advocates and family members of a gay undocumented Peruvian immigrant who remains in a Louisiana detention center maintain he has not received proper treatment for the post-traumatic stress disorder that stems from the anti-gay discrimination and violence they say he suffered in his homeland.
U.S. Border Control agents took Luís Armando Mendoza Sanchez into custody near Penitas, Texas, on Feb. 25 shortly after he entered the country. Vinnie Picard, spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the Blade that Mendoza, 22, told arresting officers that he was from Perú and that he was not afraid to return to the South American country. He noted that Mendoza informed agents who detained him near Douglas, Ariz., on Jan. 22 that he was from Mexico.
Picard said that Mendoza told an ICE officer a few days after agents took him into custody in Texas that he actually was afraid to return to Perú because of his sexual orientation. He was transferred to the New Orleans Field Office while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services evaluated his asylum claim.
Mendoza’s aunt Maribel, who lives in D.C., reached out to transgender activist Ruby Corado in July after she saw her on a local Spanish language television station. She told her that Mendoza was afraid that his fellow inmates at the Oakdale Federal Detention Center in central Louisiana were going to rape him.
Maribel, who declined to give her last name, told the Blade that her nephew left the Peruvian capital, Lima, six months ago to escape what she described as anti-gay persecution and violence from local police, neighbors and others. Mendoza’s parents passed away from AIDS when he was a teenager, and Maribel said that he sought what she described as a better life in the United States.
Corado relayed Maribel’s concerns to ICE officials.
“I have some serious concerns on the severe mental health consequences that result from the long terms of incarceration that many LGBT people experience while in custody of ICE,” she wrote in a July 27 e-mail to Melissa Jaramillo of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations that the Blade obtained. “Many of these detainees are people who have suffered severe trauma and incarceration in their home countries and have or are dealing with issues of sexual abuse and rape or the post-traumatic stresses after they were victims or a violent crime.”
Corado sent a second e-mail to Jaramillo on Aug. 8.
“Talking to Luís [Mendoza] tonight, it seems to me that my plea for help for LGBT victims like Luís is not going anywhere, no mental health or therapy is being offered to him,” she wrote. “Nobody has even attempted to reach out to him to help him address his mental anguish.”
Picard confirmed to the Blade that Corado had contacted ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that oversees the agency about concerns she and Maribel had over his safety.
“ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers immediately interviewed Mr. Mendoza about his perceived safety concerns,” he said. “Mister Mendoza’s only stated concern to ERO officers was how his claim of persecution based on his sexual orientation relates to his asylum case. Mister Mendoza did not affirmatively advise ERO or detention center staff of any safety concerns.”
Clement Lee of Immigration Equality acknowledged to the Blade that PTSD is not uncommon among LGBT immigrants. He further noted that a detainee’s access to medical care depends upon the type of facility in which they are held — some are run directly by ICE, while others are contract facilities and even local jails.
“Some of them get better care, some don’t,” said Lee. “I’ve had clients that have been able to get prescription medications to treat depression, to treat hallucinations. I’ve had other people who have sort of just languish and meet with a psychologist just one and say that’s too much — you’ve been raped 17 times, this is more than I can handle. The stress of being in detention sort of adds to that PTSD.”
Picard said Mendoza received a mental health screening from ICE Health Services Corps after he was transferred to the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, La., late last month. Agency protocol indicates that each detainee who enters an ICE detention facility undergoes a screening that includes a medical, dental and mental health evaluation within 12 hours of their arrival.
“The initial report from IHSC is that Mr. Mendoza had a standard medical and mental wellness check,” said Picard. “Mr. Mendoza reported that, in general, he is fine.”
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
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