Also, there's an effort to buy a house in Holyoke for trans asylum seekers to share and to live in:
Alianza De Trans Solicitantes De Asilo Ministerio (Trans Asylum Seekers Ministry Alliance) The Trans Asylum Seekers Ministry Alliance of the Hampden and Hampshire Associations of the United Church of Christ is generating a community of sponsors, an interfaith network, to provide sponsors and a physical home for transgender people seeking asylum. This casa de refugio, house of refuge, will be in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Transgender asylum seekers are rarely released from detention without a sponsor and without paying a bond that can be anywhere from $1,500 to $15,000. Whereas many asylum seekers have family or community connections in the United States, trans asylum seekers are often fleeing not only state and community violence, but family violence as well. They have no one to sponsor them and are routinely kept in detention, subject to the attack of fellow detainees and even ICE agents. There are currently at least 30 transgender asylum seekers in detention near the Southern border who are eligible, but cannot gain release from detention without a sponsor. And there is a backlog that is likely to continue, if not grow. We need your help to make a home for them a reality.
To donate make a check or money order out to South Congregational Church Amherst and in the memo line write Trans Asylum Seekers Ministry and send to 1066 S East St Amherst MA 01002 For more info contact Rev Liza M. Neal at zionandelmo@gmail.com