MSW STUDENT ADVOCATES FOR LGBTQIA+ MIGRANTS AS THEY SEEK ASYLUM

As a social work student, the equation for helping others can seem simple: find a need and fill the gap with your services.

However, when reality sets in — when lives are on the line, and basic human rights are being violated — that gap can rip open and expand. In these situations, it’s your responsibility as a social worker to use the skills and knowledge you acquire through your education and experience to aid those who need you. 

After joining the Board of Directors at the grassroots organization Casa de Colores, GSS MSW student Sen-Pei Hsia is being put to that test. The gap: supply LGBTQIA+ migrants with the guidance and necessities they need to find freedom at the Mexico/Texas border.

“I wanted to work with Casa de Colores because it inspires me to be around and work with people who, in the face of imminent danger and circumstances, found a way to fill a gap in needs and create something pure, good, and necessary,” Hsia said. “I am proud to be a part of an organization that does that.”

Casa de Colores: A Beacon at the Border

Casa de Colores is a grassroots advocacy and direct-action organization, a shelter, and a network that helps trans migrant refugees navigate the asylum system. It provides resources, temporary housing, and immigration services to cross the Mexican – United States border (from Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas).

Hsia was introduced to Casa de Colores’s founder, Susana Coreas, a trans woman herself, through a mutual friend. That first meeting was all it took; Hsia immediately wanted to get involved in any capacity possible.

“Susana was very matter-of-fact about the ongoing issues at the U.S.-Mexican border towards LGBTQIA+ migrant refugees,” Hsia said, “which was a shock to me, as a lot of the media on this matter was hidden or under-reported.”

According to a Casa de Colores press release and an article in Reuters, four LGBTQIA+ people are murdered every day in Central and Latin America. Moreover, at least 1,300 LGBTQIA+ people have been murdered in these regions in the past five years, with Colombia, Mexico, and Honduras accounting for nearly 90% of deaths.

For these migrants, fleeing their countries for solace in the United States is a sliver of hope far away from the acts of violence they witness back home. However, this journey is long, bureaucratic, and scarce of resources; many are forced to fend for themselves in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, as they await the results of their immigration process. Most of these times, Hsia said, they are not even able to receive critical medical treatment. 

“LGBTQIA+ (predominantly trans) migrant refugees are statistically the most vulnerable group within the migrant refugee population,” Hsia said. “Suicide is at a high rate within this community, since there are very little resources (even in funding), and it takes a long time to get a work permit – which means that they have no way of survival or autonomy while waiting for their asylum status approval, and there is a language barrier with few translators available.”

But Where Will They Wait?

Casa de Colores started as one person’s attempt at helping others fulfill a basic need — shelter from the storm. 

When Coreas made her asylum journey from El Salvador to Juarez, she faced the same issue as many still do today — a long, uncertain wait, but nowhere to go — and she knew no one was coming to save her. But soon, she found someone willing to help.

Coreas told Newsweek that an acquaintance she met along the way owned a vacant hotel in Juarez, and was willing to allow Coreas and her travel companions to stay for free. The hotel came with dirt, dust, and “dead birds,” but it was better than the streets, where potential violence lurked like shadows. 

That hotel transformed from a shelter to a community for LGBTQIA+ migrants, eventually housing 43 people as they awaited their asylum status. Coreas named it “Casa de Colores,” and its memory serves as inspiration for the now grassroots organization as it provides current migrants with food, clothing, water, and other forms of guidance along their journeys. Additionally, Casa de Colores has partnered with other nonprofit organizations and law firms to provide legal assistance and even monetary stipends.

But shelter and community are still at the heart of Casa de Colores’s mission. And now, the organization is taking on its biggest goal yet: building a shelter for migrants on the U.S. side of the border, in El Paso, Texas.

“We are currently fundraising to acquire a shelter to provide temporary housing and resources for this community until they get their work permissions and asylum status,” Hsia said. “Above all, there is not one shelter at the moment that serves this population in El Paso, Texas. It is a human right to be treated with dignity, to be safe, and have shelter.”

An Education in and out of the Classroom

Sen-Pei Hsia came to Fordham GSS as someone who wanted to serve vulnerable populations, and advocate for changemaking policies. That much hasn’t changed. But through working with Casa de Colores, Hsia’s eyes have opened to all the possibilities an MSW degree will open for her future.

“Originally, I wanted to work with vulnerable populations (LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, SA/ DV, trafficked individuals and survivors, etc.) as a trauma informed practitioner, working within a clinical setting,” Hsia said. “However, after working with Casa de Colores, I realized that social work encompasses so much more than clinical – there are also the Mezzo and Macro systems that one can work within.” 

And Hsia doesn’t have to wait until graduation to start implementing the lessons she’s learning in class. As a board member at Casa de Colores, Hsia helped the organization navigate the 501c3 non-profit certification process. As of Wednesday, September 14, that goal is now a reality.

“Susana [Coreas] brought me on board to make Casa de Colores into a legitimate 501c3 non-profit, by voting me in to become the Treasurer/ Board member, and now as the President of the Board of Directors,” Hsia said. “I’ve learned so much at Fordham GSS and continue to.”

One of the more specific benefits of Hsia’s coursework has been in grant writing. She has put that knowledge to work to the tune of $10,000 in funding.

“I even learned how to put together some necessary documents for a grant proposal in my elective, ‘Program Evaluation.’,” Hsia said. “It was because of a needs assessment that I wrote in that course—which was included in a grant that we applied for—that got Casa de Colores a $10,000 grant for operations.”

Thrust into a leadership position at Casa de Colores, we asked Hsia what she thought it meant to be a good leader.

“A good leader serves their clients with integrity and holds themselves accountable for their actions,” Hsia said. “A good leader lets go of ego-based behavior and makes decisions based on the greater good of the organization and the cause, even if it means stepping down from a position of power and delegating important tasks with trust.”

How You Can Help

Casa de Colores is an organization that has faced struggles and doubt. Its entire progression has been against the odds — it first formed as a network, Hsia said, “based on blood, sweat, tears, and resilience,” and now it is a certified 501c3 organization that receives federal funding to bolster its life-saving programs and initiatives.

But despite these great efforts, Casa de Colores continues to face challenges as a young nonprofit — fundraising being one of them. 

“Trans-based causes and organizations are the least funded organizations in the United States, statistically,” Hsia said.

But LGBTQIA+ migrants don’t have the luxury of waiting until those statistics change. As night approaches in El Paso, hope sets with the sun — and these people have no place to go. 

They will continue to suffer unless something changes.

Casa de Colores believes that a shelter in El Paso will help the sun rise again on people who have been unfairly outcast for being true to themselves. 

The organization has set up a Go Fund Me page to complete the project. 

All funds received will go directly into building the shelter. 

All funds received will go directly into rebuilding hope.

Meet the Casa de Colores Team