WATCH LIVE: LGBTQ Immigrants Demand Queer and Trans Relief in Immigration Reform from the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus

LGBTQ immigrants have been at the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus since 10AM, staging a sit-in to push for LGBTQ inclusion in critical immigration reform. They’re broadcasting live and hosting a parallel Twitter storm using #QueerTransRelief:

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

According to a press release, the sit-in effort brings together LGBTQ immigrants and their advocates, who are asking the seven co-chairs of the Equality Caucus to “come out in the name of the LGBTQ people that they represent in support of demands from the LGBTQ community.” Those demands include:

• Immediate administrative relief and work authorization for LGBTQ identified and HIV positive undocumented immigrants
• Expand administrative relief to the fullest extent of the law to include LGBTQ undocumented immigrants that have been criminalized for their survival
• Eliminate the use of solitary confinement
• End all programs (including 287g and Secure Communities) that allow local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities to collaborate to profile people based on race, gender, and sexuality

267,000 LGBT and undocumented adults live in the US, and in the past year alone, various activist efforts have called for action for LGBT folks and women being impacted disproportionately by immigration law. President Obama has signaled that he is preparing to take executive action on the issue, which remains stalled in Congress.

“Every day undocumented LGBTQ people are at high risk of deportation, and when detained, are often placed in solitary confinement just for being Trans or LGB,” said Paulina Helm-Hernandez of Southerners on New Ground in the statement. “We cannot wait and see with the President. We need to actively implore and pressure him in the best ways we can.”