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Trans Woman Murdered in El Salvador After She Was Deported From the U.S.

A source says she was seeking asylum because of "threats she had received," but authorities in the U.S. didn't believe her.

A transgender woman and undocumented immigrant who was deported from the United States to her homeland of El Salvador was fatally attacked in January.

In a statement to The Washington Blade, Asociación Aspidh Arcoiris Trans, a Salvadorian transgender advocacy group, shared that the woman—known by the names Aurora and Camila—was reported missing in El Salvador late last month.

Suspecting the worst, members of Asociación Aspidh Arcoiris Trans searched for Camila at hospitals around the country. Eventually, they learned she'd been admitted to Rosales National Hospital in San Salvador on January 31 with multiple serious injuries from an assault. She passed away just days later on February 3. The exact circumstances of her death are still unclear, The Blade reports.

"She migrated to the U.S. because of threats that she had received, but she was deported because they didn’t believe her," Aislinn Odalys, a legal advocate who specializes in LGBTQ issues, told The Blade.

Camila is the second known trans person murdered in El Salvador this year alone. The other victim, known as Lolita, was fatally stabbed with a machete on February 8. Neither of their deaths are being investigated as hate crimes by Salvadorian police.

Last May, Roxsana Hernández, a transgender woman from Honduras seeking asylum in the U.S., died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Hernández, who was HIV-positive, was reportedly held in an "icebox" cell and denied adequate food, water, and medical attention after she fell gravely ill.

The results of an independent autopsy, published last November, showed signs of abuse prior to Hernández's death.

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