Trump Stops Giving Hormones To Trans-Identifying Illegal Immigrants In ICE Detention

Trans-identifying illegal immigrants being held in federal immigration detention centers will no longer have access to hormones aiding their so-called transitions.

Specialized treatment for transgender detainees in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ended altogether under the Trump administration, The New York Times reported.

“To be clear: we will NOT waste taxpayer dollars to provide hormone therapy to illegal aliens seeking to change their sex,” DHS said in an X post on Thursday.

The number of ICE detainees who identify as transgender makes up a small percentage of those being held.

Between October 2023 and September 2024, ICE held 244 detainees who identified as transgender, according to agency data.

The agency no longer shares that data, but ICE’s last public count listed 47 transgender detainees in ICE custody as of January, according to The New York Times. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also scrubbed an Obama-era policy “on the care of transgender individuals in custody” from its website.

Meanwhile, activists have reported instances of harassment, abuse, and retaliation against trans-identifying detainees from ICE agents and fellow detainees.

Venezuelan illegal immigrant Camila Toro de Paula, 25, a transgender-identifying man, told The New York Times that he has been assaulted and threatened, while also being denied hormones. He has been held in solitary confinement, where he claims to lack access to water for up to 24 hours at a time.

According to DHS, Toro de Paula has a rap sheet that includes charges for felony assault and criminal possession, which were dismissed and sealed. His lawyer claimed the charges stemmed from his June 30, 2025, arrest in the Bronx after he allegedly hit a man on the head with a skillet.

Toro de Paula’s attorney said the Venezuelan national was fighting off a robber.

The transgender-identifying illegal immigrant was also charged with prostitution in Queens, which was later dismissed, according to The New York Times. Later, he was charged with pickpocketing in Queens and pleaded guilty to jostling.

Bridget Crawford, the legal director at Immigration Equality, told the outlet that “the administration is creating a humanitarian disaster” with its policies.

The New York Times also reported that “safeguards” for transgender ICE detainees “have vanished” since Trump’s return to the White House.

DHS has denied that any “detainees are being beaten or abused.”

“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States,” the department said.