By Mauri Balanta Jaramillo y Janvieve Williams Comrie
The human mobility of trans and gender-expansive people represents one of the most critical and least visible issues of global migration. From the patriarchal violence that prevails in conservative societies and is reproduced in their institutions, to the absence of differential approaches in guaranteeing rights; state migration policies continue to reinforce a global system that deprives, silences and annihilates trans and gender-expansive lives, all under the indifferent or complicit gaze of States. For this reason, it is urgent to strengthen the intersectional analysis of both the structural causes of this migration, as well as the challenges faced by thousands of people when they decide to cross borders crowded with armed actors, drug trafficking, sexual violence and exploitation of bodies, not to mention the physical and emotional implications of migrating in the midst of great needs and uncertainties.
When we interrogate these experiences from the intersection of race-gender-sexuality-migration, we recognize a high level of vulnerability within the legal systems themselves. According to Grantmakers Concerned with Inmigrants and Refugees GCIR, U.S. federal policies targeting migrants have disproportionately impacted Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) trans and gender-expansive immigrants. At the increasingly militarized U.S.-Mexico border, they face hostility and violence during the long waits for CBP One appointments. If detained, BIPOC trans migrants encounter additional layers of violence and isolation. Once released, they must navigate housing and other survival needs while also contending with a wide array of anti-LGBTQ bills and laws at the state level.
In spite of these realities, for every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations, merely $0.23 goes to LGBTQ communities and issues, and less than $0.05 of that specifically benefits trans communities. This lack of investment perpetuates cycles of poverty, insecurity and marginalization, limiting access to basic services such as specialized medical care, safe housing and legal support. It also reinforces systemic exclusion and contributes to the continued vulnerability of trans and gender-expansive people to institutional violence, exploitation and neglect, significantly reducing their chances of building autonomy and fully exercising their human rights.
Transitivity and Migration:
C.Riley Snorton's (2017) concept of Transitivity proposes Black trans life in a permanent state of migration/mobility from political systems. Therefore, transitivity as a condition of trans and gender expansive migration understands those bodies as entities that transgress the normative canons of the binarism that shapes the state and the law, so it will always speak of identities that defy the logics of citizenship and humanity that is directly granted to heterocisnormative people. Thus, it is not by chance that shameful figure showing the low financial support to Trans organizations and communities because even for philanthropies, social movements, political parties and other collectivities, it is difficult to recognize a trans or gender expansive person as a political subjectivity.
Scarce resources for migrant-led trans organizations and those that support them is one of the greatest challenges to long-term advocacy and power building. Thus, funding is precisely about elevating the trans and gender-expansive experience to a place of political subjectivity, leading to a tacit redefinition of institutional binarism. Despite the vulnerability they face on a daily basis (especially when they are BIPOC), it has been proven the fundamental role they play in the reconstitution of bodies and territorialities, capable of organizing themselves in the most creative ways, not only to defend their rights, but also to contribute to the construction of power for other historically marginalized communities. Their determination has allowed them to cross many barriers of traditional political spaces and to dignify the experiences of those who are migrating or who have even lost their lives in doing so.
Philanthropy must recognize that supporting organizations working at the intersection of rights for trans, racialized and migrant people is not just an act of charity, but an ethical and political responsibility. It is critical to increase flexible, long-term funding for these organizations, enabling them to develop sustainable strategies tailored to differential needs. It is also necessary to prioritize the leadership of Black Trans and gender expansive people within these organizations and in decision-making spaces. Without fair and equitable investment, a structure is perpetuated in which the very communities most in need of support are left unattended. Philanthropy must be a vehicle for social transformation, supporting initiatives that not only alleviate the consequences of exclusion, but also attack its structural roots.
Geopolitical challenges for solidarity:
When analyzing migration from a geopolitical perspective, we find similarities but also very marked differences, even when we talk about the paradigms that mobilize the political action of organizations at the international level. In this sense, the first thing to question is the hegemony of the organizations of the global North and the tendency of many of these to undervalue the struggles in the global South. This geopolitical hierarchy limits the scope and effectiveness of black solidarity, imposing narratives and priorities that do not always reflect the specific realities of Black Trans and gender expansive migrants in our region.
To move towards effective transnational black solidarity, it is necessary bridging for broader, situated, differential dialogues, where political actions can be mobilized based on recognizing the historical, political, cultural and economic implications of inhabiting different geographical poles. Black Trans and gender expansive lives (often invisibilized within broader movements for migrant rights), must be centered in these dialogues and actions of resistance.
An example of this praxis is the work of Afroresistance that, last October, coordinated a delegation with activists, academics and human rights defenders from the United States to address and contribute to risk mitigation for Afro-descendant migrants in the current humanitarian crisis that is occurring in the Darien Gap, the border area between Colombia and Panama. For us it is very important to highlight all the violence and lack of protection that is occurring there, especially because BIPOC migration has become a continental trans phenomenon, where trans and gender-expansive lives are erased from any official record. This is demonstrated by the latest reports on irregular transit and migratory dynamic of the Panamanian government, although in the sub-registers we know that the transit of our bodies continues to be a booty for these geographies of extractivism, subjugation and criminalization.
Similarly, Afroresistance initiated a collaborative agenda with Fruits Basket Foundation, an organization that provides food, psychosocial and legal support to trans and gender-expansive refugees and migrants in South Africa. Within the reflections we found that, beyond this country being recognized worldwide as the rainbow nation, the lack of an agenda for LGBTIQA+ migrants and refugees makes the promise of freedom very distant for many of them. This is not unlike what many migrants experience in the United States. Hence, it is important that more actors are committed to supporting the work of organizations that strategically advocate for migrant justice for Black trans and gender-expansive people and communities.
In the face of these challenges, black solidarity must be more than a concept: it must be translated into concrete actions to support organizations led by trans and racialized people. Philanthropy and human rights movements must prioritize resources, platforms and alliances that center the experiences of these communities. Only in this way can we dismantle the structures of oppression that operate globally and ensure a truly inclusive and protective immigration justice for all people. AfroResistance reminds us that without justice for Black and gender-expansive trans people, there is no true immigration justice.
References
Snorton, C. R. (2017). Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. University of Minnesota Press.
Estadísticas sobre tránsito irregular en la frontera entre Panamá y Colombia. En Migración de Panamá. Recuperado de
Cifras de Migración Panamá hasta mayo (2024). En Migración Panamá. Recuperado de https://migracion.gob.pa/estadisticas/
ACNUR Panamá con cifra de junio (2024). En ACNUR. Recuperado de: https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/110538
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