Mexico: Peruvian intersex activist Bea Is deported
Immigration authorities held her incommunicado for twelve hours, and then deported her. She is accused of racial and sexual discrimination.
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. On February 24, Bea Is, a human rights defender for intersex people in Peru, was discriminated against because of her skin color and gender expression by Mexican immigration authorities at the Cancún International Airport. She was held incommunicado, isolated, and twelve hours later unjustly deported to Peru. Immigration authorities gave her no explanation for her detention and deportation.
Bea traveled to Mexico for two reasons: vacation and a meeting between the organizations Brújula Intersex (from Mexico) and Perú Intersex . Both groups aimed to foster reflection on collaborative work and how to create supportive spaces for intersex activists in Latin America.
Bea arrived at Cancun International Airport from Lima, Peru, on February 24 at 6:32 a.m. At the immigration checkpoint, two agents looked her up and down and, without her consent, checked her cell phone.
Bea showed her hotel reservations in the three cities she was going to visit. She also showed her itinerary for her activities as a human rights defender and her return flight. Even so, the agents did not allow her to enter Mexico.
A violation of rights
During the interrogation by immigration agents, Bea did not mention the word "intersex." However, based on how she was treated, she believes that the reason for her detention, isolation, incommunicado status, and subsequent unjustified deportation was racial discrimination and non-normative sex characteristics. As part of her gender expression, Bea grew a beard.
“This greatly affected my mental health. I felt very vulnerable. Even today, I struggle to do everyday activities. What I experienced, the types of discrimination I faced in this situation, even though intersexuality wasn't explicitly mentioned or addressed in any of the immigration questions, the way immigration officials looked at me, my racial characteristics, and my gender expression—I think it's important to mention that it was racial discrimination and discrimination based on my non-hegemonic sexual characteristics,” Bea told Presentes .
Intersexuality is a form of bodily diversity. It is not a pathology, a sexual orientation, a gender identity, or a "third gender."
According to the report Violence against LGBTI people in the Americas by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) , “violence against intersex people stems from a lack of recognition and acceptance of people whose bodies differ from the male and female body standard.”
After the immigration window, Bea was taken to a room where she noticed there were more people with brown skin.
“I experienced racial discrimination and discrimination because of my non-hegemonic sexual characteristics”
“I experienced racial discrimination at the first checkpoint. When I went through the immigration window, they asked me for my hotel and flight reservations; the woman, along with another officer, looked me up and down, taking in my physical characteristics. When I went to a second interview, I realized that my characteristics matched those of the group of people who were ultimately deported: mostly people with features from Indigenous communities, people of color, and people from certain countries. Specifically, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. There was a pattern,” Bea Is Presentes
In that second interview, Bea was again questioned about the reasons for her trip. She showed her hotel reservations again and explained that she works in human rights defense at the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (Promsex) . The immigration officer who interviewed her told her, "The reasons for your trip and your itinerary are not clear to me."
In addition, the immigration agent reviewed more information on Bea's cell phone without her consent.
“He saw the event document, which includes detailed information about the meeting. The word 'intersex' and the logos of the organizations involved are there. So they see the term 'intersex,' but I never explicitly mentioned it. I get the impression that at some point they looked up information about the organizations and assumed it referred to the LGBTIQ+ community. Ultimately, the immigration official determined that I didn't meet the requirements to enter Mexico,” Bea explains.
Despite Bea showing documents and expenses for flights and lodging, the immigration agent did not tell her the reason for her detention at the immigration station.
“The immigration official simply told me to take a seat. After a while, he told me I had to wait for my flight back to my home country,” Bea recalls.
Immigration authorities violate human rights
Currently, the National Migration Institute (INM) does not have criteria, formats, or protocols within the Migration Law and its Regulations; including the rules in the Migration Stations and Provisional Stays of the INM, that allow, from the first contact, dignified treatment towards LGBTI+ people who are under any migratory status (tourist; asylum/refugee seeker; migrant with regular or irregular administrative situation).
Last year, Brazilian trans activist Keila Simpson arrived in Mexico City as a guest at a human rights forum. She was isolated and deported because her official documents did not match her gender expression.
Since the signing of the migration agreement between Mexico and the United States on June 7, 2019, human rights organizations and media outlets have reported systematic attacks against migrants, ranging from deaths in the custody of the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM ) to unjustified deportations and mistreatment in immigration detention centers .
Without dignified treatment
Bea alleges that she and the other people at the Cancun International Airport immigration station did not receive dignified treatment.
“The space where they kept us was guarded by an officer to prevent anyone from leaving. It was dirty, it was cold, they gave us food once, but it was the airline in charge of our return; there were mattresses in poor condition and blankets made of a material similar to aluminum foil. They prohibited us from using communication devices and threatened us,” he says in an interview.
He adds, “They warned us that if any of us had any device that could be used to communicate, they would put an immigration alert on us to prevent us from entering any other country, assuming that everyone present wanted to emigrate to another country and were not traveling for pleasure.”
Furthermore, Bea alleges that they took photographs of her and asked her to give her full name. They said it was a requirement of the airline in charge of her return.
According to Bea's account, immigration authorities violated more than one article of the regulations governing Immigration Stations and the Immigration Law to guarantee dignified treatment in accordance with human rights.
Complaint to Human Rights organizations
According to data from the National System for Alerting Human Rights Violations , from 2018 to 2022, under the " new migration policy of the Mexican Government (2018-2024) ," complaints received by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) regarding human rights violations by the National Migration Institute increased by 264.7%. From 2021 to 2022 alone, they increased by 72.8%.
Bea spent 12 hours incommunicado at the Cancun International Airport immigration station until she was returned on a flight to Peru without the Mexican immigration authorities justifying the reason for her deportation.
“They only made us sign for the receipt of a sandwich and a soft drink from Volaris (an airline),” he says.
The Mexican organization Brújula Intersexual filed a complaint that same day (February 24) with the National Commission to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred) and another one, with file number 2023/23171, with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
“We demand a public apology and reparations, as our colleague was invited to travel to Guanajuato and Mexico City. We denounce discrimination based on non-normative sexual characteristics, as well as ethno-racial discrimination,” Brújula Intersexual stated in a press release .
On March 7, Copred requested a report from Bea regarding the events. To date, she has not received a response regarding the processing of her discrimination complaint.
“Let’s hope they can make progress; we know it may be a slow process, especially since it involves reviewing an organization as secretive as the immigration authorities,” Bea commented at the end of the interview with Presentes .
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