BALTIMORE — The attorneys for an undocumented, Maryland transgender woman say she's been stripped of her rights on purpose as the federal government's crackdown on immigration continues into its second month.
43-year-old April Amaya-Luis awaits movement on her case in solitary confinement at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility more than a thousand miles away from her Maryland home.
It's for her own safety.
VIDEO: Attorneys argue ICE is violating Maryland trans woman's civil rights
Though she identifies as a woman, ICE transferred her to an all male detention center in Miami more than a week ago.
Immigration attorney Rachel Girod believes it was an intentional choice, as there are gendered facilities nearby in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“There isn't a component of this case that requires anybody to abandon their beliefs in order to acknowledge her humanity and the rights that she has as an individual,” Girod said. “I think illegal things are going on here that are having a real impact on our client's well-being and her family's peace of mind while she's going through this.”
Girod works at the Eldridge Crandell Law Firm, which has notably been busier fielding calls about immigration issues in the last month.
Immigration authorities arrested Amaya-Luis on February 4 during a routine check in with her probation officer in Kent County.
She was convicted of simple assault and serving a six month probation sentence with no jail time. She has also been living undocumented in the United States for the past 25 years.
Amaya-Luis’ lived experience represents the intersection of two issues that have been under the microscope since President Trump’s second administration began, making the wife and business owner into a target herself.
The White House also posted about her arrest on ‘X’ both misgendering her and claiming she had sexually assaulted a child, which Girod calls “categorically defamatory.”
“To take that and sensationalize it in the way they did with blatant falsehoods about the case, it just adds motive to what was behind all of the irregularities since she got detained,” Girod said. “She right now wants to fight, she wants the truth to be out there."
Girod says her client was taken to ICE Baltimore’s headquarters downtown after her arrest and kept in a holding room for seven days, well beyond the legal federal limit of 48 hours.
“I have never seen that before in my years of doing this,” Girod said. "Just really jarring," she added.
Only hours after securing a Baltimore hearing to argue for her client's release, ICE moved Amaya-Luis to the Florida facility.
A hearing is now scheduled for Feb. 26.
If released, Amaya-Luis’ and her family will be on the hook for the costs to return her home.
Her husband, Tyler Schelts, has been raising money in the meantime.
“They want her home. The people who truly know her, know that she is not a violent or dangerous person. She is a wife and a beloved community member,” Girod said.
The attorneys working on the case say getting Amaya-Luis back home is the number one priority, and that “everything is on the table when it comes to fighting April’s case right now.”
