Being Trans, and an Immigrant, Under the Trump Administration
The Immigration and Naturalization Officer told me my documents were “not acceptable.”
When I presented him with my state ID and name-change documents, in a cavernous room with gray walls, lit flat by fluorescent lights, the INS officer, a gray haired white man, told me: “We need proof from a doctor you’ve had your operation.”
I socially and legally transitioned the same year George W. Bush came into office in 2001, the year I also became eligible for American citizenship, the year the September 11 attacks made it harder to be an immigrant, let alone transgender. A documented immigrant from the Philippines, I went to Immigration and Naturalization Services early that year to change the name and gender information on my green card, a necessary step for me to naturalize and claim a U.S. passport as a woman. I brought my hard-won Massachusetts State ID, social security card, and name change
