Posted on 08/04/2005 5:20:21 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - An HIV-positive transgender woman from Honduras can stay indefinitely in the United States because she would face physical threats and a lack of medical care if she returned to her native country, a federal judge ruled.
Judge Jan D. Latimore ruled Tuesday that Cristina Gomez Ordonez should not be deported, allowing Ordonez, 34, to work in the United States and receive medical treatment.
"We are happy that the judge granted withholding ... and acknowledged that our client was going to face a lot of problems if she were returned to Honduras," said Shiu-Ming Cheer of Catholic Legal Immigration Network in Los Angeles, which helped represent Ordonez.
Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Thursday the government has the prerogative to appeal but declined to speculate as to whether an appeal would be filed.
Ordonez testified that while in Honduras her father had severely beaten her and she would face similar abuse if she returned. Also in Honduras, she would not be able to receive HIV treatment, which could be fatal, her lawyers argued.
Latimore denied a petition for full asylum because Ordonez failed to submit her application within the one-year deadline and because she had several misdemeanor convictions on her record, said Michael O'Connor, a staff attorney for HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance, who also represented her.
Immigration officials could still deport Ordonez to a country besides Honduras but such a move is unlikely, attorneys said.
Yay! Some good news for other transgenders with HIV, come to America and you wont be tossed out.
Uses term "woman" rather loosely.
Should have directly deported her and then let her appeal from Honduras.
there, that's better.
-ccm
California just doesn't have enough of these.
For those not used to grappling with the doublespeak, "transgender woman" means "man who's had his equipment removed and has many other serious issues relating to women".
I hope she's being forced to stay at the church or the judge's home.
HIV status should *never* be a cause for asylum. Otherwise lack of affordability of health care around the world will have about 6 billion folks will be pouring in. Gender reassignment shouldn't be either. She had surgery *somewhere* right? How? Where? She's not being persecuted by the government of Honduras like Jews of Nazi Germany so why would the government do anything less than appeal this judge's ruling?
As libertarian (small L) as I usually run on homosexuals and those controversial relationship things, this ruling is brain-damaged and would made for terrifying immigration standard.
More than likely TAXPAYER FUNDED free "medical treatment"!
I'm not sure that's better in the least. It's a sad situation however you describe it. Also, I don't know of many homosexual males who would rather undergo gender reassignment to fit into a heteronormative society. Unfortunately real life doesn't always produce two clearly distinguishable genders at birth. This could be one of those cases. I definitely agree there are psychological problems which I would think ought to preclude the final stage of genital removal surgery.
Any odds on government appealing this ruling? Or other details / resources on this case?
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