Mateo Guerrero supports Intros 133 and 134 for trans immigrants

It's okay, thank you.

Hi, good afternoon.

Chair Brooks, thank you so much for hosting this hearing today.

My name is Mateo Guerrero.

I am an organizer at Make the Road New York, and I'm here to give public testimony on behalf of Make the Road New York.

We serve over 30,000 community members.

across New York City for services from immigration to housing to employment discrimination, et cetera.

We also have a particular group that serves trans and queer immigrants.

It's called our Trans Immigrant Project.

And one of the things that I want to highlight is that trans and queer immigrants are consistently being criminalized very often and facing the potential of being incarcerated.

One of the clear examples that we have seen is Operation Restore Roosevelt, which has been ongoing since October 2024.

It started with...

The prior administration, Eric Adams, and it's still ongoing under the Mandani administration, criminalizing and particularly targeting sex workers in Jackson Heights.

One of the populations that engages in sex work, particularly, are transgender women.

And the reason why today we're here to show our strong support for Intro 133 as well for

Intro 134 is because we believe that trans communities, first of all, should not be incarcerated, but if incarcerated, that they receive the support to be able to

I'm sorry, to be able to have a dignifying life while incarcerated.

When incarcerated trans and queer, trans, gender non-binary, and gender non-conforming people who are housed in a facility that does not align with their gender identity, they are often

exposed to harassment, violence, discrimination, and oftentimes it also creates a fear to even request basic services, such as

hormone replacement therapy out of fear of the interactions they will have with other folks who are incarcerated as well.

Being housed in the wrong facility can also force trans and gender expansive folks to constantly have to explain and defend who they are in an environment where they already have very little control.

This is why Intro 133 and 134 are important steps towards addressing these harms.

Intro 133 will strengthen oversight and accountability for how the Department of Correction treats trans and non-binary people in custody, and Intro 134 will require the Department of Corrections to house people according to their gender identity unless they choose otherwise.

This legislation recognizes that something that should not be controversial, which is that trans and gender diverse people should be treated with dignity and respect, including when they're incarcerated.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.