A Critical Conversation with Brigitte Baltazar Lujano
Brigitte Baltazar Lujano
Director, LGBTQ+ Program, Al Otro Lado, Tijuana, Mexico
In the wake of escalating immigration enforcement targeting vulnerable migrant communities, this Pride Month episode brings essential perspective from the frontlines. We sit down with Brigitte Baltazar Lujano, a trans woman who herself experienced deportation and now leads critical advocacy and service work for LGBTQ+ migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border with the Tijuana and San Diego-based organization Al Otro Lado.
What This Episode Reveals
- The compounding crisis: How current immigration policies create life-or-death situations for LGBTQ+ migrants facing persecution both at home and in detention
- Due process denied: The lack of protections for transgender migrants caught in rapid deportation processes
- Frontline adaptations: The emergency measures Al Otro Lado has implemented as enforcement intensifies
- Constitutional implications: What current enforcement means for LGBTQ+ civil rights
The Human Cost
Brigitte details how recent enforcement actions have torn apart LGBTQ+ families and sent transgender individuals into dangerous situations. Her personal deportation experience and frontline work reveal the immediate human consequences of political decisions made in Washington.
This alarming situation is far from over. This episode provides essential facts and critical analysis in a conversation that could not be more timely.Download this podcast episode’s .mp3 file here. Listen to WOLA’s Latin America Today podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you subscribe to podcasts. The main feed is here.
