Advocates Push for Release of Trans Man Detained By ICE

The Transgender Law Center renewed a push this week to get Chin Tsui, a transgender man detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, home for the holidays.

The #BringChinHome hashtag has been pushed across social media channels as the Transgender Law Center seeks swift action.

"Chin should be home with his family for the holidays, not locked up in a detention center," reads a statement from the organization.

Attorneys say Chin should not remain in custody because evidence shows any crimes on his record were because he was a victim, not a criminal.

"When Chin was a survivor of human trafficking, it led to multiple misdemeanor convictions. Despite having knowledge of his history being trafficked, immigration authorities still won't release him from behind bars," the statement continued. "Even Homeland Security Investigations ruled that Chin is a human trafficking survivor and that his convictions are the result of trafficking."

ICE has come under fire now for two years for its treatment of Chin. The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance wrote a contribution to The Advocateearlier this year alleging the agency put Chin in solitary confinement needlessly.

"Many Americans think of torturous incarceration as something that occurs only in developing countries but it's happening right here, to our trans and gender-nonconforming community members, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement," organizer Khudai Tanveer wrote for the Alliance.

"...Chin's situation is inhumane. Solitary confinement is a heightened form of punishment, a form of torture in violation of human rights. It is an example of the dire situation of transgender people in immigration detention and reveals how Asian-Americans are also caught up in Trump's overly aggressive immigration enforcement."

ICE officials maintain Chin has been held in accordance with the agency's policies on transgender care.