“She migrated to the US because of threats that she had received, but she was deported because they didn’t believe her,” Aislinn Odaly, an LGBTI activist, explained to the Blade about Camila, a transgender woman, killed in her native El Salvador. In the aftermath of her death, it’s important to analyze the way that both the United States’ immigration system and El Salvador failed her.
Though not everything is yet known about the case, Asociación Aspidh Arcoiris Trans, a trans advocacy group based in El Salvador, said that Camila – who also went by Aurora – was reported missing at the end of January 2019. After looking for her around various hospitals, the group eventually learned that she had been admitted to Rosales National Hospital in San Salvador on January 31. She died shortly after that on February 3.
Camila is the second trans woman killed in the country in February, but officials have not labeled it a hate crime partially because she died in a public hospital and the reports made did not mention she was a victim of violence, according to the Blade.
In the meantime, Aspidh Arcoiris Trans is calling for justice. “We want justice and that these cases are investigated and the reformed penal code procedures to be applies when those who are responsible are found dead,” said Ambar Alfaro, the organization’s projects coordinator. “Although we have begun the year badly, we hope these crimes establish precedents for there to also be a positive legal framework that regulates the situation of trans people, especially the situation of violence and insecurity.”