Trans woman says ICE agents released her after confirming she’d had bottom surgery

A transgender woman in New York says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wrongly arrested her at an airport and held her in a men’s detention facility. She says she was released after government officials were satisfied with an inspection of her bottom surgery.

Clara Tan said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that four men identifying themselves as ICE agents approached her as she headed toward the taxi stand after landing at Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport around midnight.

“As I was exiting the terminal and heading towards the taxi stand, I was accosted by four men who called me by my name. I turned, and did not recognize a single one of them. The tallest, a pipe-cleaner looking fellow with a mildly Snidely Whiplash-esque mustache and some of the deadest eyes I’d ever seen, tells me ‘We’re with ICE and we have a warrant for your arrest,’” Tan posted.

Related: Queer trans ICE protester recounts pepper-spraying, jailing by agents

“Mind you, it’s 12 am, I’ve just been on a cumulative 8 hours of flight and I just want to go home and sleep. So I do what any red blooded American would and say, ‘Can I see the warrant? Do you have any identification?’ Pipely Whiplash says, ‘We can show it to you in the car, just come peacefully.’ Meanwhile, one of his compatriots flashes a wallet, far too quick for anybody to actually confirm its veracity, and they all converge on me.”

Tan said she tried to make a phone call, but the agents tackled her to the asphalt, threw her into the back of a black SUV and drove her to a detention facility in Batavia at speeds she estimated reached 90 mph.

According to Tan, ICE declared she was in the U.S. illegally and not studying at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, as her visa required. She disputed parts of the agency’s account, including its claim that she entered the country on an unknown date through an unknown entry point. Tan said she had records showing that she flew into New York City on June 18, 2019. She also said she had studied at the academy and that her graduation photos were publicly available online.

Related: Transgender woman alleges abuse inside Arizona ICE detention

Tan, a cosplayer, had been returning home from a trip to Los Angeles to attend an anime concert series that had been canceled because of delays in securing U.S. visas for performers.

Tan said she was taken to an ICE facility and placed in a metal cage, where she spent the night curled up in a rough hemp blanket provided to her, listening to agents make racist jokes. She said she was kept separate from male detainees but eventually concluded she was in a men’s facility because she appeared to be the only woman there.

Tan said she told an agent she was a woman and asked why she was being held in a men’s facility.

“Well, do you have your junk?” the agent asked, according to Tan.

“Not last I checked,” she replied.

Related: Trump administration stops abuse protection for transgender detainees in ICE custody

Tan said the exchange led to a medical examination. She said she was subsequently released from custody with an ankle monitor and a December 8 court date after the examination confirmed she had undergone gender-affirming genital surgery. She said she spent about 18 hours in custody.

“Pre-op trans women are housed there, but not anybody with a vagina,” Tan wrote. “My decision to pursue bottom surgery is why I’m now sitting here, in the emergency room of Strong Memorial Hospital, 90% sure that my left foot is fractured and regaling you all with this tale of weft and woe, instead of living it up on bread and water, seatless toilets and no sinks to wash your hands.”

Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to reporters’ questions when Rochester NPR station WXXI requested comment. The Advocate contacted ICE for comment.

Tan said she was sharing her story to put a face to the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies.

“If any of you met me and enjoyed our time together, know that this administration and their policy goals are targeting me specifically,” Tan posted. “I am a part of every single group they’ve singled out to hate. If you need a face to put to this issue, maybe it can be mine. It’s always easier to make sense of something when you have a personal connection to it.”