73-year-old Sikh woman from Punjab deported from US, alleges ill-treatment
A 73-year-old Sikh woman from Punjab, Harjit Kaur, was among 132 deportees who landed in India Thursday evening after being flown out of the United States as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrants, media reports said.
Kaur, who had been living in northern California’s East Bay for over 30 years, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a routine check-in.
Her lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, alleged she and others on the deportation flight were treated poorly.
He claimed one official even attempted to shackle and handcuff Kaur, despite her age and recent knee surgeries, before being stopped by another officer.
She was reportedly made to sleep on the floor of the small chartered aircraft used by ICE, denied a shower, and struggled to get up because of her medical condition.
Kaur moved to the US in 1992 as a single mother with two sons. Though undocumented, she had reported to ICE every six months for over 13 years. Her asylum request was rejected in 2012, but her family said she continued to comply with the law and even sought travel documents from the Indian consulate to return voluntarily, which were denied.
Her daughter-in-law, Manji Kaur, defended her record: “She’s eligible [and] always applied for a work permit. She pays taxes every year... She doesn’t even have, from my knowledge, any violations for driving or anything like that.”
The deportation has sparked criticism in the US as well.
Congressman John Garamendi, Democrat from California’s Eighth District, said Kaur was a “respected member of the community with no criminal record” and accused President Trump of unfairly targeting her.
In February this year, a political storm had broken out in India after visuals surfaced of deported Indian citizens being shackled on ICE flights, with the Congress slamming the BJP government for its handling of the issue.
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