Trans Woman Karla Sáenz Released from Eloy ICE Facility After Month in All-Male Unit

A federal judge ordered the release of Karla Sáenz, a transgender Venezuelan migrant and Phoenix-based immigrant-rights organizer, after she was detained by ICE during a routine March 9 check-in and held for more than a month in a men’s unit at the Eloy Detention Center despite requesting placement with women. Sáenz says she was denied hormone therapy, went a week without being allowed to bathe, and was given inadequate food. Government lawyers effectively conceded the case, declining to contest claims that her detention was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated her due-process rights; advocates argue her detention was retaliation for her organizing on behalf of other LGBTQ+ detainees at Eloy.