Queer Detainee Empowerment Project

A project of the Center for Transformative Action

Welcome our new Community Organizing Coordinator!

  • Wednesday, June 23, 2021: QDEP and allies rally to hold a memorial and die-in in protest of the spate of Trans immigrants dying while in US custody. {city. on {wiredate}. (Ash Ponders for UUSC)
  • Wednesday, June 23, 2021: QDEP and allies rally to hold a memorial and die-in in protest of the spate of Trans immigrants dying while in US custody. {city. on {wiredate}. (Ash Ponders for UUSC)

The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and emotional support and services. We work to organize around the structural barriers and state violence that LGBTQIA TS & GNC detainee/undocumented folks face related to their immigration status, race, sexuality, and gender expression and identity.

We are committed to assisting folks in building lives outside of detention, to breaking down the barriers that prevent folks from building fulfilling and productive lives, and to keeping queer families intact by demanding an end to deportations, detention, and policing. We believe in creating a narrative of thriving, not just surviving.

Health Check Form

Read the latest from QDEP

  • QDEP’s Response to the Club Q Attack
    Written By Uchechukwu Onwa, QDEP’s Co-Director/Organizing Director. For Media Contact, further inquiries, or interview requests, please contact:Uchechukwu Onwa – uchechukwu@qdep.orgVan Xelo – van@qdep.org On November 20th, 2022, in Colorado, there was a violent attack on the LGBTQ+ club “Club Q”. A 22-year-old gunman entered the LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs just before midnight on Saturday … Read more
  • LGBTQ+ IMMIGRANTS STRUGGLE UNDER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
    Photo source: American Progress Org Moving to New York City from Chicago in March 2019 was one of the toughest and most difficult decisions that I have ever had to make, I moved without any resources, a difficult decision for someone who had just gotten out of a traumatic experience in immigration detention where I … Read more
  • CONGRATULATIONS TO QDEP’S 3RD LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (LDP) COHORT!
    For Further Inquiries or interview requests, please contact:Uchechukwu Onwa – uchechukwu@qdep.orgVan Xelo – van@qdep.orgWritten by: Dzana- dzana.ashworth@gmail.com and Joaris- joaris291092@gmail.com This spring, the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) graduated the third cohort of Leadership Development Program Fellows! The Leadership Development Program (LDP) is designed exclusively for transgender women, cis-gender queer women, and gender non-conforming immigrants, … Read more

The Queer Detainee Empowerment Project is a project of the Center for Transformative Action.