Keila Simpson, a 55-year-old trans woman from Brazil, was expected Sunday in Mexico City by the organizers of the World Social Forum, where she would speak about human rights. However, agents of the National Institute of Migration (INM) stopped her upon arrival at Benito Juárez International Airport, because she could not show her proof of round flight and lodging because she did not have internet on her cell phone. For those reasons, she was deported.
According to Jessica Marjane, a lawyer at Juventudes Trans, the human rights defender was held incommunicado for more than 10 hours, despite the presence of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) at the site. Although the organizers of the event went to the airport with the documents to allow their access to Mexico, Migration personnel denied them the possibility of receiving the papers.
Political Animal requested a position on the facts from the INM and the CNDH, without giving a response at the time of publication.
No precautionary measures against discrimination
Marjane says Simpson was part of a delegation of 20 people from Brazil who would participate in the World Social Forum, which is being held in the country’s capital from May 1 to 6. Of all of them, the trans woman with Afro features was the only one to whom the immigration authorities prevented access, although several of them – who arrived in Mexico on different flights – were in the same situation of not having printed documents or access to the Internet.
Not hearing from her, her Fellow Brazilians who were already in Mexico contacted Marjane, so that as a human rights defender she could help them.
“I simultaneously filed a complaint with the CNDH and the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), but I realized that on the Conapred page – through which complaints can be filed – it does not give a folio, which made it impossible for Keila to agree to precautionary measures by the agency,” Marjane details.
Keila Simpson, a 55-year-old trans woman, racialized, poor, persecuted, has survived 1st place in Hate Crimes, Brazil. She was invited to the World Social Forum to talk about human rights and arrives with enthusiasm and the @INAMI_mx deports her because she considers you suspicious!
🧵 pic.twitter.com/giCVLs4ffo
— Jessica Marjane 🏳️ ⚧️💜💚 (@JessicaMarjane) May 2, 2022
So far, Conapred has not communicated with Marjane. On the contrary, given the urgency of the case, the CNDH contacted Juventudes Trans’s lawyer almost immediately, and a representative of the agency went to the airport when Keila had not yet been deported.
“The person that the CNDH entrusted with its legal staff to go to the place informs me that until that moment Keila received information for the first time with a person who translated her into Portuguese. He informed him that he did not meet the tourist profile because he could not download his return ticket and the hotel from the internet, and because of the situation that he did not have a name change in his passport, but we must remember that in Brazil it is very difficult to access this right, “says Marjane.
Upon her return to Brazil, Keila said she was interviewed by Migration personnel who did not know Portuguese. She doesn’t speak Spanish. Despite being in another country, with fear, she managed to answer some questions to the person from the CNDH, but in the same way she was returned.
In Brazil, the members of the human rights organization in which Keila collaborates told her that during the hours she was held incommunicado and detained they only had half-baked information: they called them from Mexico, but the audio was only a recording in which the INM explained in Spanish what was happening with the legal status of the defender. the same ones they didn’t understand. They tried to reach that number again to ask for more information, but no one answered.
Discretionary parameters
For Marjane, it is worrying that “there are issues of racial profiling” among migrants and tourists who visit Mexico, and claims that there is no public parameter on how to define who has a “tourist profile”.
For what happened, he announces that civil organizations from Brazil and Mexico will seek that the protocols of attention to transgender migrants, tourists and asylum seekers include dignified treatment, and that the authorities involved apologize to Keila, who in Brazil is recognized for her work in defense of human rights.
“What is important is that the action of the INM does not go unnoticed, because we know that it is a struggle not only of trans people, ifnot that it is important for the State to act with differentiated and comparative analysis in the situations of historically violated people. It’s a matter of public policy, of human rights,” Marjane said.
On the complaint that was filed with Conapred, he claimed that until Monday afternoon no response has been obtained.
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