Involuntary Migration, Reports of Discrimination, and Mental Health Among Transgender Immigrant Women in the United States

Purpose: This study examined whether experiences of social vulnerability and mental health differed between transgender immigrant women in the United States who reported involuntary versus voluntary migration. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2023 Transgender Women's Internet Survey and Testing (TWIST) study among immigrant transgender women. We compared sociodemographic characteristics, lifetime and past-year discrimination (Intersectional Day-to-Day Discrimination index and Intersectional Major Discrimination Index), lifetime trauma exposure, and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) among involuntary and voluntary migrants using Fisher’s exact tests, Fisher-Freeman-Halton tests, and independent-samples t -tests. Results: Among 61 transgender immigrant women, 39 (63.9%) migrated involuntarily and 22 (36.1%) voluntarily. The average age at migration across the sample was 7.1 years. Involuntary migrants migrated at younger ages and reported significantly higher past-year day-to-day discrimination and higher lifetime and past-year major discrimination. Conclusions: These findings suggest that involuntary migration may heighten discrimination and mental health vulnerability among transgender immigrant women.