Clara Tan travelled to California hoping to attend an Umamusume: Pretty Derby event, but the appearance was cancelled after US immigration authorities refused visas to the Japanese cast and staff. Tan stayed with friends, attended other events and cosplayed as Super Creek before flying home to Rochester, New York, on October 26.
After collecting her luggage and leaving the terminal around midnight, Tan says four Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents called her name and told her they had a warrant for her arrest. She asked to see the warrant and requested identification. One agent allegedly replied that they could show her both in the car and asked her to come peacefully.
Tan says she tried to phone for help, at which point all four agents rushed her. Her phone was sent flying and she was tackled to the ground. In a Facebook post, she wrote that she hit the pavement and heard a severe crack from her foot before being handcuffed behind her back.
According to Tan’s account, the agents placed her in an unmarked SUV and drove her to Batavia Detention Center. She says one agent told her the incident could have been avoided if she had gone quietly.
Detention and medical concerns
Tan says she was denied access to her lawyer and placed in a small metal room with rough blankets. Severe ankle pain prevented her from sleeping, while requests for a phone call were allegedly met with an order to be quiet and go to sleep.
The following day, more prisoners arrived. Tan, who is transgender, says they were all men, so she asked whether separate accommodation was available. She says that request was dismissed. She also says staff refused her requests to see a nurse about her injured foot.
After approximately 14 hours in custody, Tan says she was finally shown the arrest warrant. She claims it was not signed by a judge. The document reportedly identified her as Singaporean and not a US national, but listed her entry date and point of entry as unknown.
Tan says those details ignored her attendance at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy from June 19, 2019, to October 31, 2020. She states that her passport and other official documents at home recorded her lawful entry, while public information confirmed her study and graduation. She says her objections were not addressed.
Questions about housing
Tan again asked whether she should be held elsewhere. She says a guard told her that the facility did not house women. Tan responded that she was not a man, prompting the guard to ask an invasive question about her anatomy.
Tan says medical staff were then called and two women confirmed what she had explained. She was subsequently released rather than held until her court date, with an ankle monitor attached. She says staff told her Batavia housed pre-operative trans women but not trans women with vaginas.
Tan later wrote that her decision to undergo gender-affirming surgery was connected to the circumstances in which she found herself: in the emergency department at Strong Memorial Hospital, believing that her left foot was about 90 per cent likely to be fractured.
Tan’s wider warning
The incident followed the cancellation of a Japanese gaming and entertainment event, making it part of a wider conversation about immigration policy, international performers and the people who gather around game culture. For more coverage of gaming news, visit the RETROCADE Arcade Blog, or browse the site’s arcade videos.
Tan’s message was that politics can feel distant until it affects a favourite performer or someone met at a gaming event. She argued that immigration enforcement and policies targeting marginalised groups become easier to understand when they are connected to a real person.
She encouraged people who had met and enjoyed spending time with her to recognise that she belongs to several groups she believes are being singled out by the current administration and its policy goals.
Tan’s account describes serious allegations about her arrest, detention, medical treatment and accommodation. The claims above are presented as her account of events.
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