The Trans Rescue Papers — When Help Looks More Like Human Trafficking & Exploitation
Why are you doing this?
We started hearing back from members of the trans community that the behavior of Trans Rescue was very unprofessional, and completely unacceptable for a non-profit. We first noticed a change in Trans Rescue’s behavior when it re-branded from Trans Emigrate to Trans Rescue on May 16, 2022.
Before Trans Emigrate became Trans Rescue, the organization was known as Trans Emigrate. Under the auspices of Trans Emigrate, the group did not hold any official government status as a non-profit organization. Trans Emigrate was fairly transparent in their activities, and would share internal documentation with our team. Specifically, Trans Emigrate shared early versions of its Trans Safety Map, a very useful map that denotes the legality and safety of trans people in various countries across the world. This map was shared with a member of our team as part of potential cooperation when Trans Emigrate was in its early days. Given our limited need to direct people towards seeking Asylum — and no one we sent to Trans Emigrate ever reported back — Trans Emigrate dropped off our radar until recently.
It should be noted that after interviewing volunteers from Trans Emigrate, as well as the original founder herself (Misty), we strongly believed that the organization was doing good work — the hard and thankless work of helping people apply for asylum and work visas so as to escape to countries where their quality of life would be better. From what we were able to confirm, Trans Emigrate has helped at least six people find a better life.
However, the lack of transparency and outright refusal to open a dialogue from the renamed organization, Trans Rescue, forced us to open a new investigation. We feel personal responsibility to the people we have referred to this organization. Trans Rescue has shut down communication by refusing to answer simple informational emails to blocking all lines of communication (social media, email, etc). Trans Rescue has done nothing but stonewall anyone who does not have a personal connection to its organization.
Since Trans Rescue has refused all comment, it has forced us to use various investigative techniques, including, but not limited to, using undercover sources. Soon after joining the Trans Rescue Telegram channel, we discovered that Director Anne Ogborn has been advising volunteers and staff to avoid talking to people outside of the organization. Anne Ogborn has even gone so far as to advise her staff and/or volunteers to watch the 1944 US military training film Resisting Enemy Interrogation. Such training material advises volunteers to only give their “name, rank, and serial number … and base.”
Upon initial contact with current and past volunteers of Trans Rescue, we have been told that the organization’s operations have changed to become very non-transparent. Specifically:
- “Transparency is important and indeed, these things were done, but they weren’t talked about in a more . . . open way, so it might come off as not knowing whether it was done or not. And there were changes about the goals of the group and how to operate.”
In other words, as the volunteers we were able to make contact with were expressing that things were changed without notice to them — including the very goals and mission the group was created to discharge. This piqued our interest.
It is our belief that Trans Rescue has only one path that it recommends to its clients: human trafficking and potentially a job in one of Anne Ogborn’s or her associates’ businesses.
Anne Ogborn herself has publicly admitted in the main Telegram chat room that she has run businesses in Kenya and other parts of the world where people she helps “move” can work. Based on this and other information that we have uncovered, we believe that Trans Rescue is involved in human trafficking of transgender people to Kenya and other parts of the world.
We would like to acknowledge that in some circumstances, becoming an undocumented immigrant may be the only path for people to escape their situation, but this should not be the first and only option provided. Additionally given such extreme circumstances, these people must be provided a support network to help them move forward. People relocated from a bad situation in one country cannot simply be abandoned when they arrive in a new country. Yet, Trans Rescue clearly states that that is exactly what it does: abandon them!
We also find it confusing that Trans Rescue’s own website and social media contradict this information as it also explains that people must buy their own ticket, have their own money and that ‘you’re an adult’ so people using Trans Rescue’s “services” need to find ways to earn their own money. These facts are well documented on Trans Rescue’s website, as well as its social media.
What is Trans Rescue Doing Wrong
The people whom Trans Rescue works with are extremely vulnerable and scared. They are human beings, like any of us, and they deserve dignity and respect. They deserve the opportunity to have freedom in the countries they move to, as well as the freedom to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness wherever they end up. It deeply pains us to think that anyone would take advantage of someone’s fears, and use those fears to wield power and control over other human beings.
As we write this, we feel sick to our stomachs. No one should ever leverage the promise of salvation over other people to control them. We hoped at every level that our research would uncover nothing, that our research would prove that we were just chasing ghosts, that Anne Ogborn (the current Chair of the Management Board) and her associates could not possibly be leveraging people’s hopes and dreams of freedom to extract financial gain from them. This, as you will soon find out, is not what we discovered. In truth, we learned that our concerns were based on facts that show all the dark goals listed above are true.
Obtaining people asylum in another country is extremely hard work. It can require cooperation with multiple Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), social workers, and sometimes even the governments of the countries where one is trying to obtain asylum for people. It is tiresome work that is worth doing. Sometimes there are better routes than asylum, such as specialty Visas; everyone’s situation is different, and requires people with the knowledge and experience to make the right recommendations for each person. Failure to handle people’s cases with the dignity and respect they deserve will result in them possibly being permanently banned from the country where they have attempted to emigrate.
Trans Rescue doesn’t participate in any legal asylum program of any kind. They encourage their “passengers” to enter the country of Trans Rescue’s choice on false pretenses, thereby jeopardizing their passengers’ ability to ever seek asylum.
Americans are supposedly sent to Canada, and people in the Middle East or Africa are sent to Kenya (where being LGBT is still a felony as of 2022 as the Kenyan High Court voted to uphold anti-LGBT laws as of 2019) to live in a Trans Rescue “Commune” or “Kibbutz” — as Anne Ogborn likes to call it. “Passengers” from the Middle East are encouraged to enter Kenya on a tourist visa filled out by Anne Ogborn. After people arrive in Kenya, they will be unable to gain legal employment as they will not have a worker’s visa. We suspect this is why Trans Rescue attempts to create jobs that they control. According to our research, Anne Ogborn has a history of owning business interests with previous passengers and volunteers of Trans Rescue. Most of the information here can be found directly on the Trans Rescue website. Trans Rescue openly admits to using tourist visas to enter people into countries on false pretenses. This puts vulnerable people at great risk of further human trafficking, human slavery — or worse — as they do not have a support network of any kind. Trans Rescue itself claims on its website that it does not provide support of any kind once they “move you” — the client — to the target country.
To confirm Trans Rescue’s claims, we attempted to learn the immigration path of Trans Rescue’s clients by studying what the immigration path for an American family with a trans kid would be. Anne Ogborn could only offer Kansas/Washington as destinations, and how to cross the “unprotected” Canadian Border. Trans Rescue doesn’t actually seem to help Americans at all, despite the organization’s continuous mention of them when discussing Trans Rescue’s organization and its mission.
According to previous ‘passengers’/volunteers with Trans Rescue, Trans Rescue’s “Director,” Anne Ogborn, personally owns the businesses where clients are directed to seek “work.” One such volunteer, Alex T, has agreed to publicly be on the record.
Alex worked with Trans Rescue in its previous incarnation (Trans Emigrate) as a Kenyan volunteer. While volunteering with Trans Rescue, he asked for a loan to start a small business in Kenya. Instead of offering him a loan, the Director of Trans Rescue, Anne Ogborn, offered him a proposal: She would own the business and run it from the Netherlands, and pay him a salary. When the business did not turn enough of a profit for Anne Ogborn, she demanded he shut down the business and liquidate the company as well as sell his motorcycle (bought with money sent by Anne) to pay her back. Anne Ogborn herself has admitted to sending legal demands to “Mr Alex,” demanding the money and liquidation of the company’s assets. Anne Ogborn has accused Alex of sexually harassing people with whom Trans Rescue works.
However, it should be noted that before these claims were made, Alex accused a volunteer of Trans Rescue of being a scammer who was attempting to steal funds from the organization. We cannot speak on the validity of these claims, but with Anne Ogborn’s personal business interests at stake, paired with her legal action against Mr Alex, it leaves things very unclear. It appears, from these facts, that Anne Ogborn is engaging in self-dealing.
There are chat logs, however, on the Trans Rescue Telegram server that go into more detail. The person in question — the person who accused Mr. Alex of sexual harassment — asserted that Mr. Alex does not have the “authority” / “moral authority” to call them a “scammer.” It’s unclear why Mr. Alex would need ‘authority’ to raise concerns to prevent financial abuse of Trans Rescue. No one on the Telegram server seems to have refuted or questioned this statement, and Alex reports that he was never allowed to tell his side of the events or defend himself. Regardless, it becomes very unclear who is telling the truth here, as Anne Ogborn has personal business interests that make it very hard to tell what exactly happened.
Anne Ogborn additionally talks about being a “part owner” of a Chicken Pakora stand in Chennai, India. We find it completely inappropriate and a conflict of interest that Anne Ogborn owns stakes in the businesses of Trans Rescue’s clients and/or its volunteers.
Trans Rescue claims to have saved “8 people from Mombasa, Kenya.” However, Mr. Alex claims that Trans Rescue never helped anyone in Mombasa where the 8 so-called ‘passengers’ were supposedly from. This is supported by the chat log of the Trans Rescue Telegram chat. There are no references to Mombasa except from “Kapelo The Don” who joins the channel and makes the demand: “I want to talk to the person in charge My name is Kennedy Mwangi from Mombasa Kenya.” No further information can be confirmed about this. It’s conceded that at the time this occurred, Alex would not have been a member of Trans Rescue. It is possible that these “8 people” became clients of Trans Rescue after Mr. Alex was ejected from the organization. However, we find this unlikely as Mombasa is never mentioned again after this by any of Trans Rescue’s staff, volunteers or clients. In a publication on LGBTQandall it is claimed that two of these people were attacked, and one died AFTER being moved to “safety.” If this is what Trans Rescue considers safe, it needs to seriously evaluate the way it operates.
With these deep concerns in mind, an investigation was undertaken on how Trans Rescue treats members of the transgender community seeking asylum in the Middle East versus the USA. Two accounts were created with unique personas for this investigation. One was “Susan” from Oklahoma, a middle class parent with two kids, one being transgender. The other was “Lama” from Lebanon, who is suffering abuse from her father, and would like to seek asylum in Europe. In Lebanon there are laws against “unnatural behavior.” Gender confirmation surgery is required to obtain rights in Lebanon. Without the surgery, your very existence may be deemed as illegal. Many trans people do not wish for an operation; gender confirmation surgery should not be forced upon anyone. Transgender people and their identities are valid — with or with-out surgery. For more information, read this news article detailing the legality of trans people in Lebanon.
First lets talk about Lama. Anne Ogborn told Lama — fairly quickly and aggressively — that they are not running a “travel agency,” and Europe is not an option. Anne Ogborn refused to investigate Lama’s situation. Anne Ogborn immediately told “Lama” that their only option would be to enter Kenya, where it is illegal to be LGBTQIA+, on a tourist E-VISA.
Later “Lama” contacts Anne Ogborn with concerns that she might be sent back to Lebanon from Kenya after entering. Anne assures “Lama” that she can stay in Kenya for as long as she wants.
The Lama persona eventually spooked Anne by acting underage. However, we are not convinced this is why Lama was kicked out of Trans Rescue, as Lama offered to provide her passport to show proof she was over 18. Anne was not interested in reviewing Lama’s passport, most likely because she considered the behavior of “Lama” disruptive to her operation when she started questioning why she wasn’t allowed to be considered for emigration to Europe.
Interactions with past and present volunteers of Trans Rescue/Trans Emigrate
Through our investigation we have contacted past and present volunteers to uncover why Trans Rescue behaved towards us in such an unprofessional and hostile manner.
Tuuli R. (Volunteer for two months)
- A volunteer who reached out to us after being referenced by other volunteers. She had only volunteered with Trans Emigrate for two months. During the time of her volunteering there, they appeared to be fairly transparent. She never was able to actually get into volunteering with the organization because, as a professional who works in mental health services, she did not find that Trans Rescue had the resources, people or knowledge to properly and successfully emigrate people to various safer countries.
- Tuuli R was able to confirm that when met with members of Trans Emigrate, they stressed that the most important goal they tried to live by was not emigrating people to a country more dangerous than the one that they were leaving. It was also relayed to us that it was decided in the early days that Trans Emigrate would not do emergency assistance, as the organization did not have the resources or personnel to handle these cases. We fully agree with Tuuli R’s assessment.
- She reported that an individual identified as Kevin Karhan at Trans Emigrate seemed to be running the show, from her perspective. She reports that while he seemed to be very into the ideas behind trans rights, the way he went about promoting them seemed off to her.
- After two months of on-boarding, Tuuli R left the group as she felt she could not ethically support the group Trans Emigrate due to a combination of not being able to put in enough time paired with the group’s lack of resources.
- We thank Tuuli R for being brave enough to come forward, while the information she provided is mostly benign compared to the rest of this report. It should be noted that it still takes courage to speak up, as Trans Rescue has solicited the help of bigger voices in the UK trans community such as Gemma Stone and Katy Montgomerie to help silence anyone daring to speak up or question what’s going on.
Anne Ogborn (Founder, Chair, Managing Board)
- We have been in contact with Anne Ogborn, who graciously told us about the inner workings of Trans Rescue and how it moves people around. While Anne Ogborn has refused to open a dialogue, we found her very forthcoming after joining their Telegram server as Susan, a mother of a trans kid in Oklahoma.
- The first thing we noticed was the striking difference in how Susan and Lama were treated. While Anne Ogborn treated Lama with disdain — ‘This is not a travel agency.’ — Susan was met with compassion, kindness and trust.
- While Lama was told her only choice was to go to Kenya, a place less safe for trans people than Lebanon, according to the Trans Emigrate map. While Susan was instructed to get closer to the unprotected borders of Canada for future extraction. This was our first suggestion from Anne Ogborn that human trafficking is the only “service” Trans Rescue offers.
- Anne Ogborn has been a tremendous help in understanding some of the inner workings of their human trafficking operation, and an invaluable witness to the human trafficking done both by Anne Ogborn and Jenny Willow List, Anne Ogborn’s roommate, Trans Rescue’s Treasurer and a managing board member.
- Much like Trans Rescue’s website instructs, their ‘asylum’ relies on a 90-day tourist visa, but according to Anne Ogborn, this is not enough as Trans Rescue’s ‘passengers’ face scrutiny at the border. This is partially mitigated through Anne Ogborn, Jenny Willow List and potentially others showing up to pretend to be receiving the ‘passengers’ as visitors before moving them yet again to a final undisclosed destination.
- Anne Ogborn tells us that this is a terrifying process, and that she is always frightened that she might go to jail for lying to immigration services. Anne is fully aware of Trans Rescue’s operation being highly illegal. However, despite her openness about her criminal activity, and the criminal activity of her roommate Jenny Willow List, Anne Ogborn refused to comment on the final arrangement of Trans Rescue’s ‘passengers.’ It is clear at this point why Anne Ogborn was so against opening a dialogue with us about what we initially considered a misunderstanding, and why she instructed everyone involved to only tell ‘Name, Rank and Serial Number.’ Anne Ogborn demonstrated her fear that even the tiniest bit of information would expose her unlawful operation by requiring volunteers and others to watch an ancient operational security video which, in effect, ordered her underlings to give little or no information to others.
- We thank Anne Ogborn for not following her own instructions as this has exposed a human trafficking ring masquerading as a Dutch Algemeen nut beogende instelling / Organization for the Public Good (ANBI).
How we came into contact with Trans Rescue
In September 2022, Trans Rescue cut off all contact with our team over us linking a New York Times article on social media. Not only was this odd, but it felt very uncharacteristic for a non-profit / Dutch ANBI that claims to help trans people escape dangerous situations. When this happened, we felt certain that the disconnect was due to a simple misunderstanding or error.
Having referred people to Trans Emigrate in the past, we decided to ask Trans Rescue for more information. Specifically, we inquired about its “Eden House” project, a safe house run by Trans Rescue in Kenya, where it is currently a felony to be LGBT. Trans Rescue has claimed to have spent roughly $5,000.00 EUR on Eden House, a chicken coop, plumbing and other improvements. When asked for more details, members of Trans Rescue’s staff, Anne Ogborn and Jenny Willow List, responded on social media by calling Alisa Marie “Loony Lisa.” Engaging in ad hominen attacks often reveals that the person who is being attacked has gathered information damaging to the person who is perpetrating the attack. This raised our radar.
How could we continue to refer people to a non-profit that refused to be accountable for even the existence of a chicken-coop? Suddenly, it seemed to be a serious safety issue for the trans community. It started to bring obvious questions to our minds, such as who is the “House Manager” of Eden House, and is this project putting trans people in more danger than they were before being “rescued” as a “passenger” by Trans Rescue.
Rewind to about a year ago when the founder of Trans Emigrate (who identified herself as “Misty”) contacted us, and people in our community. At the time Misty/Trans Emigrate was compiling a list, ranking countries by the current safety for transgender people. Additionally, the list took into consideration which countries might become hostile for transgender people. This was a noble effort, and was of great use to a lot of people in the community. This very map lists Kenya as a very dangerous place to be transgender, which conflicts with the initial understandings we had of Trans Emigrate’s mission. Something must have happened to cause such radical change. We have reached out to Misty for comment, and she confirmed that there was an issue with racism within Trans Rescue’s walls, but declined to comment further.
At the time Trans Emigrate asked Alisa Marie if she wanted to leave the USA. Alisa told them no, that her continued presence was needed in the USA to continue fighting for trans/LGBT/human rights. After they had spoken a little, Alisa Marie came to the conclusion that it was safe to send people in danger to Trans Emigrate. This was the understanding for the past year. The idea was that referrals to Trans Emigrate would allow transgender people in need to get a consultation on their options.
Earlier this year, before uncovering the troubling state of Trans Rescue, Alisa Marie had referred one last person to the organization. We have since learned that the person has not been offered any useful advice, options or help from Trans Rescue. This has initially been written off, as we did not consider the US in as immediate danger as other places where Trans Rescue might have focused on at that time.
Issues With Transparency
At the start of 2022, Jenny Willow List, Trans Rescue’s Treasurer, made a ~$2,500 EUR loan to Trans Rescue. In the organization’s transparency report, Trans Rescue claims that it will “liquidate” the loan this year (2022). In our opinion, the repayment of the loan in 2022 creates a huge conflict of interest when Trans Rescue attempts to raise donations for its programs, but still has to pay back its own Treasurer and Director.
Trans Rescue claims that it is raising money for helping “passengers” but its transparency reports tell a very different story. Which is true? Is Trans Rescue collecting funds for helping people escape to safety? Or, is Trans Rescue raising money to pay back its Treasurer and Director?
The Eden House Model
However, the changes went deeper, as the revised Eden House Model was meant to be self-sustaining through jobs. With the knowledge that Trans Rescue only facilitates human trafficking, this leaves very few options for anyone who needs to find work there. Eden House appears to be a model for Trans Rescue to build something more ambitious — and unhelpful to transgender people. On its social media, Trans Rescue mentions that it is exploring ghost towns in Canada which have no jobs to offer because such towns are defunct.
It’s quite disconcerting to learn that Trans Rescue considers a ghost town with a lack of jobs a desirable feature. This fact, combined with Trans Rescue’s human trafficking model as well as Anne Ogborn’s business holdings in various parts of the world, starts to paint a very sinister image of the future for its ”passengers.”
Unprofessional conduct by the Trans Rescue staff
- False Police Reports From Jenny Willow List
- Jenny Willow List has publicly claimed that people have “SWATTED” her. What she really means is that she has called the police to complain about the people publishing information on the public activities of her and her associates.
- Vague threats from the House Manager “Rams Ariya”
- Rams_Ariya telling “Lama” that their gender is determined by checking her genitals
- Name-calling by the official Trans Rescue Twitter account.
Persons of interest in Trans Rescue
Trans Rescue’s board has no representation of people from the countries it claims to serve. It consists of Anne Ogborn, Jenny Willow List and Chiara Gardner.
Anne Ogborn — Founder/Director/Member of Managing Board
- Admits being the financial partner and roommate of Jenny Willow List, and has admitted to both her and Jenny’s direct involvement in human trafficking.
- Admits to facilitating immigration fraud by lying to immigration services.
Jenny Willow List — Co-Founder/Treasurer/Member of Managing Board
- Jenny is listed as having lent money to help re-brand as Trans Rescue.
- Known Coyote for Trans Rescue According to Anne Ogborn
Chiara Gardner — Advisory Board Member
- Very little is known of Chiara Gardner. This person did not come up in any interviews, and may no longer be working with Trans Rescue.
Kevin Karhan — Volunteer
- Initially helped Trans Emigrate try to get incorporated in Germany
- Most likely served as a “director” prior to Anne Ogborn taking over
- Is most likely using an alias to protect Kevin’s real name
- Kevin uses triple parentheses around his username. It is unclear how this is meant to be interpreted.
“Journalists” / Influencers who have aided in silencing or refusing to cover the story
Gemma Stone (Twitter)
- Claimed she had personal bias for Trans Rescue. Went on to claim that any information we uncovered was “hearsay.” We are curious if Gemma Stone considers Anne Ogborn herself a valid source — or maybe she thinks it is just “hearsay?.”
- Gemma Stone has published several pieces promoting the work of Trans Rescue without confirming any sources, on Trans Writes.
What The Trans!? (Twitter)
- Refused the story due to knowing Gemma Stone. It was brought up that we “don’t understand journalism” at all. I suppose this is correct. We do not claim to be journalists of any kind, unlike them.
Katy Montgomerie (Twitter)
- Tried to silence smaller accounts, calling a trans woman deranged and telling her ‘get a life mate’.
- Promoted a Trans Rescue fundraiser after being shown evidence of criminal activity from the Trans Rescue website
Rose Gold (Twitter)
- Tried labeling the accountability request as a transphobic attack
- Promoted a Trans Rescue fundraiser after being shown evidence of criminal activity from the Trans Rescue website
Conclusion
Taking into account the evidence presented above, we must conclude that Trans Rescue is an exploitative group with management knowingly participating in human trafficking. It is fundamentally, in our opinion, that Trans Rescue is a neo-colonialist operation which preys on the hopes and dreams of trans people living in very dangerous situations, making them promises they cannot deliver and smuggling unsuspecting transgender people into countries where they are unable to work and have the free and prosperous life they deserve.
We understand and recognize the importance of getting trans people out of countries where their existence is a crime, or where their living situation is deteriorating, but this simply is not the way to do it. As an undocumented migrant it would be exceedingly difficult to obtain healthcare, including hormone replacement therapy in their new country. Trans immigrants deserve the same respect and dignity as anyone else fleeing a deteriorating situation. We find across the board that Trans Rescue simply does not live up to its promises. We also acknowledge that there can be situations where entering a country as an undocumented immigrant is the only path forward; however, this cannot be the first and only option people are given.
We came across another organization during our research phase, Trans Asylias. They are doing the real work of helping people in need. We recommend donating to them if you would like to support the work of actually helping trans people emigrate.
We invite those with additional tips, leads or requests to verify our sources be directed to transrescuewatch@proton.me
