newamericamedia.org – New America Media, News Feature, Nancy Lopez
San Francisco — The first time an immigration judge determined that Grace Lawrence was going to be deported, Lawrence wanted to end it all. She went back to her cell, bid a mental farewell to her two children and proceeded to tie her bed sheets together in order to hang herself. A guard arrived just in time to stop her.
“I was mad at my family. I was mad at the world. I felt useless, worthless, unwanted,” said Lawrence, 43.
As a transgender woman from Liberia, the thought of returning to her home country was unbearable