This article was originally published by QNews. You can find the original article here.
A transgender woman visiting Sydney was sent to the male compound of an immigration detention centre despite officials telling her she would stay in a hotel before her deportation.
Sonya (pictured), who is from the Philippines, spoke to ABC News about her trip to Australia on a tourist visa in February.
At Sydney Airport, Sonya alleged she was profiled by Australian Border Force (ABF) agents, who confiscated her phone and gave her “no option to say no”.
“They even looked through my intimate photos with my ex-partner,” she told the ABC.
“When they found an email from an [international] escorting website, they isolated me, harassed me and forced me to sign a visa cancellation document.”
Sonya told the ABC she was previously a sex worker and the email related to an old advertisement.
Officials held her at the airport for 12 hours. Sonya said she was told she would stay in a hotel overnight before her return flight to the Philippines. But she said what happened instead left her “in shock”.
“Someone from Villawood [Immigration Detention Centre] picked me up and then they put me in the detention centre,” she told the ABC.
Immigration detention is ‘a living hell’
Sonya said she spent three days detained in one of the male compounds at Villawood in Sydney’s west.
“Staying in a detention centre is like a living hell. It was so, so scary,” Sonya said.
“The environment was highly uncomfortable … there was an inmate there that threw hot water on us.”
Sonya recalled she was not allowed her luggage, and could not access her hormones.
While in detention, she was not told her departure time, despite offering to book her return flight herself.
An Australian Border Force spokesperson said it does not comment on individual cases.
Sonya alleged she experienced harassment during pat downs by a male officer. Within the immigration detention network, officers are assigned to conduct pat searches based on inmates’ assigned sex at birth.
Service provider Serco rejected that its officers conduct the duties in a discriminatory or harassing manner.
A spokesperson told the ABC detainees in their care were “treated equally, with dignity and respect”.
“Our priority is the wellbeing of our people and those in our care,” they said.
‘Unfair deportations’
A group advocating for Asian migrant sex workers claims Sonya’s experience at the airport is not unique.
Damien Nguyen from the Asian Migrant Sex Worker Advisory Group (AMSWAG) claims an Australian immigration visa compliance crackdown – established to identify visa cheats and trafficking victims – was leading to “unfair deportations, torturous detainment, and over-policing”.
Nguyen said alleged profiling of Asian travellers by officials at the border must stop, including of people “who they believe do not match their gender marker”.
He said at least eight transgender people have been held at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre since last October.
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