Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh woman originally from Punjab, India, was deported from the United States after spending more than three decades there. Kaur came to the U.S. in 1992 as a single mother with two sons and lived in the country while regularly reporting to immigration authorities.
Despite her long stay, her asylum application was denied in 2012, and she remained under supervision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On September 8, during a routine immigration check in San Francisco, ICE officers detained her and later transferred her to the Mesa Verde Processing Center in Bakersfield, California.
Kaur was deported on September 23 and arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Her lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, expressed strong criticism of the way she was treated, stating that she was handcuffed during transport, denied basic necessities, and not allowed to say goodbye to her family or collect her personal belongings. The family had arranged her travel documents and requested that she be placed on a commercial flight, but ICE ignored these requests.
The deportation sparked protests in California, where around 200 people gathered near the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara to demand her release. ICE officials responded by stating that Kaur had exhausted all legal options, including appeals, and that the deportation was conducted according to U.S. law.
This case has brought renewed attention to the treatment of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., especially those who have lived in the country for many years, raising concerns about the human impact of deportation policies.
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