Two transgender migrants were arrested last night in the Once neighborhood of Buenos Aires by officers of the City Police, accused of violating Drug Law 23.737. One was released in the early hours of the morning and the second this afternoon. The arrests took place around 8 p.m. on Monday, following a complaint from a neighbor. Police searched them on the street and then took them to Police Station No. 8, located at 500 Urquiza Street, where they were detained and held incommunicado by order of Federal Judge No. 5, Marcelo Du Giorgi. They are two Peruvian trans women working as prostitutes. Various organizations were outside the police station in the early hours of the morning demanding their release. The Federal Public Defender's Office No. 2, headed by Gustavo Killman, was in contact with the police station.

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Luciana Sánchez, a lawyer with Otrans Argentina, said that the Once neighborhood “is a free-for-all where trans women in prostitution are assaulted and beaten, but when a neighbor reports it, the police arrive immediately and arrest them.” She denounced the arrests as illegal. So far this year, there have been at least three attacks on trans women in that area. That is why, on January 10, Judge Andrea Danas ordered a police detail and a patrol car to be stationed in the area where the attacks had occurred, following a writ of habeas corpus filed by Otrans Argentina.