Jerson did not want to leave his home country. He wanted to nurture life amid familiar streets and faces. But the radical act of leaving was his only remaining choice, an act of survival. Jerson left for the first time in 2015. He was apprehended in Texas, where he tried to apply for asylum in the United States. Instead, he found himself in immigration detention for nearly a year and was then deported. Upon his return to Honduras, he learned his father had been killed.
When Jerson tried to apply for asylum in the U.S. again, in 2017, it was with Arcoíris 17 (Rainbow 17), the first caravan of trans-gay migrants from Central America (and one from southern Mexico.) The caravan members nicknamed Jerson el guerrero—the warrior.
This story was originally published on NACLA Report on the Americas. Read the rest.