Estuardo Cifuentes Luarte applied for asylum on the Texas-Mexico border, but his request was denied under Title 42 during the Trump administration. Cifuentes, who is gay, left Guatemala after being attacked and harassed by police for being seen with his husband.

After five years, Cifuentes was granted asylum in the U.S.

Priscilla Orta, director of Project Corazon, has been advising people to leave Texas if they can. New immigrants may be able to cross the border into Texas, she said, but “they just won’t leave. It’s Hotel California up in here.” (I worked with Orta at Project Corazon, which is run by Lawyers for Good Government, in an independent clinic as a law student this winter. I met Ira after she messaged Project Corazon on Facebook, and am currently working on her asylum case.)

Before S.B. 4, people who crossed could—if they fled a credible threat and found legal assistance within one year of arriving—apply for asylum as a defense against deportation. Those who could prove that they had been persecuted had a shot at a permanent status; at the very least, while their cases were pending, they could live and work in the United States.

If S.B. 4 takes hold, these limited rights would be crushed.

The U.S. has granted asylum to a Guatemalan LGBTQ activist who fled his country in 2019.

Estuardo Cifuentes and his partner ran a digital marketing and advertising business in Guatemala City. 

He previously told the Washington Blade that gang members extorted from them. Cifuentes said they closed their business after they attacked them.

Cifuentes told the Blade that Guatemalan police officers attacked him in front of their home when he tried to kiss his partner. Cifuentes said the officers tried to kidnap him and one of them shot at him. He told the Blade that authorities placed him under surveillance after the incident and private cars drove past his home.