"The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the appeal of a 33-year-old transgender woman from Guatemala who is seeking asylum in a case her attorney calls life or death.
Estrella Santos Zacarias, whose claims of gender violence and discrimination were rejected by American immigration officials, was deported to Mexico in 2019 where she has faced ongoing health and safety challenges, according to a sworn affidavit from her reviewed by ABC News.
Most recently, she was beaten at a bus stop by three people and, months prior, she was bludgeoned unconscious at her workplace, her affidavit states.
...'I am constantly living in fear wondering who will try to attack me next,' she wrote in the signed affidavit to USCIS dated Nov. 1, 2022. 'This has weighed heavy on me ... I desperately need your permission to return to the U.S. where I can live safely while my case is processing.'"
To learn more, see VAWnet's Responding to the Needs of Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence and Serving Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence special collections.
