00:00When I saw that I no longer had water, I no longer had food, I had to give myself up to immigration.
00:09Economic scarcity drives these people to look for a better place.
00:13In Honduras, too many. Several of our trans sisters have died at their hands.
00:22In my house, they know about my sexual preference, but it's a topic that is not discussed.
00:28It's not discussed because of the same machismo.
00:31The truth is that since I was 11 years old, my family has not determined me as their family.
00:36On their way here, they come to suffer violations, abuse, mistreatment.
00:42I'm not ashamed of my skin color, of how I am, I'm not ashamed.
00:48I am who I am, wherever I am.
00:52I think that in the United States I will be a little more free in my gender identity.
00:59And hopefully, God willing, I will achieve it soon.
01:02Lighthouse is an albergue, but more than an albergue, it is a collective house.
01:18Because the word home encompasses many things.
01:23Security, food, love, hope, a purpose, a reason to live.
01:38Everyone has a responsibility, everyone has a role to play.
01:43Everything, basically. Food, cleaning, absolutely everything.
01:49It's like a sink, but it's clean.
01:51Like a sink.
01:52Do you know what a sink is?
01:53A bed.
01:56Yes, good morning, how are you?
01:59Hey, I wanted to ask you if there are going to be people who are going to come,
02:02because we are cooking more or less to contemplate it.
02:07And what time will they come?
02:09I don't know, since we are making the food and everything,
02:11tomorrow it will be complicated, so we want to organize ourselves.
02:19They can stay as long as they need, until their situation can be fixed.
02:34Every day, many immigrants pass through this house,
02:38who come from Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, all of South America.
02:43Many come.
02:45Hey, migration!
02:48Migration!
02:49Migration!
02:50Migration!
03:02Good morning.
03:03Good morning.
03:04My name is Irby, and we are here in a collective house of immigrants and refugees
03:10who are looking for a job in the United States.
03:13We are a civil association,
03:15and we are doing our part independently to be able to receive them.
03:20Marcelo is stopping them,
03:22because he is trying to get as many people as possible to cross to the other side.
03:28Solidarity is with us.
03:30If the people here could cross, they would have already done it, but it is not possible.
03:39Complete families,
03:41girls who are alone in the world,
03:43boys who are alone in the world without their parents.
03:46It mainly helps people from the LGBT community.
03:50So, because these people have suffered discrimination in their countries,
03:55they flee.
04:05Casa de Luz does not work with the government,
04:07it does not work with migration,
04:09it does not work with an American organization.
04:11Basically, it is something independent.
04:14It started in 2018-2019, more or less.
04:23We get up to prepare a meal
04:26that we bring for free to those who are trying to cross the wall.
04:40This one does not fit me, right?
04:42No, it is too small.
04:44Here it will not fit you.
04:48On the way from my country to here,
04:52it is difficult.
04:54It is difficult.
04:56For us, the people of the LGBT community, it is more difficult.
05:10Well, here they call me Shakira because I dance.
05:15Well, it is more.
05:17They put it in my country,
05:19from there they call me like that.
05:21I come from Honduras
05:23and now I am here in Tijuana, Baja California.
05:40I got dressed when I was 12 years old.
05:43Yes.
05:44Since I was 11 years old,
05:46when they kicked me out of my house,
05:48I got dressed when I was 12 years old.
05:53I remember I started
05:55wearing shorts,
05:59with shirts stuck to my navel.
06:06Since I was 11 years old, I have worked,
06:08I have received humiliations,
06:10I have had to sell my body to be able to survive
06:12until the age I am.
06:14And I am not ashamed to say it
06:16because, whatever it is,
06:18I had to find a way to get ahead.
06:20There in my country,
06:22four people from the community,
06:24also, out of envy,
06:26stabbed me.
06:30Four stabs hit me in the back.
06:34And then their families,
06:36some drug addicts,
06:38beat me up.
06:42I got angry,
06:44I got angry,
06:46and then I ran away.
06:48I was on the street for a long time.
06:52Sometimes you complain about the life you lead,
06:54but you don't think
06:56that there are people who suffer much more than you.
06:58I don't know.
07:06People have had
07:08quite traumatic experiences,
07:10not only in their migrant path,
07:12but also in their personal life
07:14before coming to Mexico.
07:16Those stories
07:18make people vulnerable.
07:20So when they get here,
07:22waiting for the worst,
07:24to be mistreated,
07:26they begin to have
07:28a more intimate relationship
07:30with each other.
07:32And a community is formed.
07:34A very nice,
07:36very personal,
07:38very loving community.
07:46My family is in Honduras
07:48because I haven't been
07:50involved with them
07:52in my LGBT environment.
07:56To a certain extent,
07:58it lowers your self-esteem
08:00because
08:02you can't express yourself
08:04the way you want to.
08:06You can't live your life
08:08the way you want to.
08:10You can't be who you are.
08:14A year ago,
08:16I left my country
08:18for political persecution.
08:20I worked
08:22for an NGO
08:24where people
08:26were protected
08:28by human rights.
08:30They began to charge extortion
08:32for my business.
08:36I refused to pay.
08:38That's when
08:40the death threats began.
08:42They wanted to kidnap me twice.
08:44And once
08:46they wanted to rape me.
08:54I tried to cross the river three times.
08:56The first time,
08:58I only crossed the river
09:00and surrendered.
09:02But they still didn't give me
09:04the opportunity to turn myself in
09:06and present my case
09:08or say,
09:10I need help.
09:12They just grabbed me
09:14and threw me
09:16to Mexico.
09:18In the United States,
09:20I want to find
09:22access to justice,
09:24access to food,
09:26safe housing,
09:28and not to be afraid.
09:38All migrant populations
09:40are from any community.
09:42They are at risk,
09:44especially women.
09:46The particularity of the LGBT community
09:48is that there is the aspect of discrimination.
09:50And that adds
09:52a stronger factor
09:54to their suffering.
09:56It is more personal
09:58because it deals with the identity
10:00of the people,
10:02who they are,
10:04and if they should feel bad
10:06for who they are or not.
10:08We have lost
10:10a lot of people,
10:12whether they went to another country
10:14and returned,
10:16or whether they will return
10:18to their country.
10:20And I know that any of us
10:22could be a migrant at any time.
10:24My parents were migrants.
10:26Most of the people
10:28who live here,
10:30their parents were migrants
10:32or they themselves were migrants.
10:34So I don't see a reason
10:36to discriminate against this population.
10:38I want us to be one family.
10:40All of us, regardless of our race,
10:42our religion,
10:44our country,
10:46I want us to be one family.
10:48I think I will be very successful.
10:50I will achieve all of my goals,
10:52all of my dreams.
10:54In the same way,
10:56even if my family rejects me,
10:58I will support them.
11:00When I go to the border wall
11:02to live with the other people,
11:04I keep looking
11:06to the other side
11:08of the wall.
11:10I will go there.
11:12I will go there.
11:14I will go there.
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