Drag queens from south Texas recently protested and performed in the town of Brownsville, which is on the border with Mexico, against the proposed border wall and in support of LGBTQ asylum-seekers. The rally, hosted by a 29-year-old drag queen who performs under the name Beatrix LeStrange, tells NewNowNext that he didn’t feel enough was being done to help LGBTQ asylum-seekers who are trapped at the border.

“The No Border Wall drag protest show came about because I didn’t feel like any of the local LGBTQ orgs and non-profits in the Rio Grande Valley were being proactive enough to organize the local queer community around the intersecting issue of immigration justice,” LeStrange says. “We also wanted to counter the narrative that there is a crisis at the border—that simply isn’t true.”

LeStrange lives only a few blocks away from the International Bridge that goes over the Rio Grande, and he notes the only crisis he sees is a humanitarian crisis that was created by Donald Trump’s policies. “Asylum-seekers are being made to wait outside in the hot and cold weather, facing the elements, hunger, thirst, lack of access to proper medical care, and leaving them vulnerable to be preyed upon by cartels,” LeStrange continues.

LGBTQ Central American migrants at a shelter in Tijuana.

The money that was raised by the performance is going to the non-profits Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) and Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas. LeStrange hopes they could also “counter the ugliness that is represented by the wall with the beauty and empowerment that is drag culture.”

LeStrange points to a Human Rights Watch report from 2016 that found transgender women have been routinely abused while detained by immigration agencies. He stresses this is a must-read for LGBTQ people who want to understand what’s happening to asylum-seekers at the border.

“Unfortunately," he says, "we see still see and hear about these abuses in the news all the time.”

There have been multiple recent news stories that have shown how LGBTQ asylum-seekers have suffered abuse while being detained or have been killed because they didn’t receive asylum. A 33-year-old transgender woman named Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez died in ICE custody last year, and an investigation found evidence of abuse. A 31-year-old transgender woman named Camila Díaz Córdova was killed in El Salvador this year after being deported at the end of 2018. Córdova had requested asylum, as she felt she was not safe in her home country.

“Our own people are fleeing very harsh living conditions caused by homophobia and transphobia in countries where living their truths is often met with intense discrimination, harassment and ultimately for many, death,” LeStrange says. “They then come to our country and face the same, if not worse, conditions.”

According to LeStrange, it’s something of a proud Rio Grande Valley tradition to oppose border walls. He explains that residents in the area have been fighting against them since George W. Bush was president. LeStrange says the wall is a “symbol of hate and racism” that won’t even accomplish what it’s intended to accomplish.

“All these walls have done is militarize and terrorize our peaceful communities that are some of the safest in the country. The Trump administration is also waiving 28 laws in order to gain access to private properties and other areas in order to further scar the borderlands and suppress and violate landowner rights.”

LeStrange doesn’t have any more protests planned at the moment, but he says many immigrant advocacy groups are mobilizing against the wall in his area. He supports what the No Border Wall group, the ACLU of Texas, and similar organizations are doing there.

“We don’t want any more walls,” LeStrange continues, “but instead comprehensive immigration reforms that create systems of accountability for ICE and CBP, help create accessible and equitable paths to citizenship, reunite families, as well as provide opportunity for our country to truly be great.”