A trans woman's journey from El Salvador to the United States
November 14, 2022
Photo: Paul Ratje for the IRC
At 27 years old, Fernanda Levin was forced to leave behind her parents, siblings and home simply so that she could safely be herself.
A transgender woman from El Salvador, Fernanda would eventually make it to the United States, but the journey was not easy. She took a bus across El Salvador and used a makeshift raft to cross Mexico’s southern border. For a time, she was one of the hundreds of thousands of people stranded at the dangerous U.S.-Mexico border. There, she sought safety in an IRC-supported shelter in Mexico created and run by trans women in the same predicament.
Fernanda is just one of many people in the Americas who have been forced to flee danger and seek shelter in the U.S. Below, her story.
Discrimination in El Salvador
Northern Central America is considered one of the most dangerous regions for women and LGBTQ+ people. In El Salvador and across the region, trans women are especially vulnerable. The life expectancy for a trans woman in El Salvador is just 33 years, a staggering 41 years lower than the population average.
More:
https://www.rescue.org/article/trans-womans-journey-el-salvador-united-states