A beloved San Francisco drag performer and queer immigrant, known on stage as Hilary Rivers, has been detained by ICE agents after her June 26 asylum hearing. Rivers, originally from Central America, is seeking asylum in the U.S. due to the traumatic and severe persecution she faced in her home country for being gay.
Her legal name is being withheld for privacy. After a judge denied the government’s motion to dismiss her case, Rivers was arrested outside the courtroom. It’s now believed she’s being held at the Golden State Annex, an ICE facility near Bakersfield. Her detainment came just one day after competing in the 30th annual Miss & Mr. Safe Latino Pageant, which promotes health and wellness in the LGBTQ Latino community.
Her legal admission into the U.S. came through CBP One, a Biden-era program that was recently canceled by the Trump administration. That cancellation also revoked parole status for many migrants like Rivers.
According to Milli Atkinson, legal director at the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative,
“There’s not a more textbook case of what asylum was created for than a case like his…To have them take him away from his community during Pride Week when he’s fleeing persecution for his queer identity, and when he had just participated in that pageant is just horrific to me, is just a disgrace.”
ICE’s tactic of detaining asylum seekers directly after court hearings has been increasingly reported in the Bay Area since May. San Francisco Pride released a statement expressing solidarity with Rivers, condemning what it called attacks on immigrant communities. The organization encouraged the public to write letters of support to Rivers and reminded the nation that San Francisco is the vibrant city we know of today because of the contributions of immigrants and especially queer immigrants.
