Woman, 73, deported to India after three decades in US
A 73-year-old grandmother who spent more than three decades living in the United States was expelled in India.
Harjit Kaur, who had applied without success for asylum in the United States, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Applications (ICE) on September 8, triggering a shock from the Sikh community.
She moved to California in 1991 with her two young sons to escape political troubles in Punjab and lived there and worked there while making several unsuccessful asylum attempts in the United States.
His lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, alleged that Ms. Kaur – who has no criminal record – had been treated in a “unacceptable” manner by ice managers during his detention.
Ms. Kaur was transferred to a relaxation center in Georgia on September 19 and expelled in India on September 22, without ever visiting her American home or farewell to family and friends, Ahluwalia said.
Mr. Ahluwalia described Ms. Kaur’s treatment in an Instagram video as “unacceptable”, saying that she had spent 60 to 70 hours in detention without bed, forced to sleep on the ground despite expanses of double knees.
He allegedly alleged that she had received ice to take medication and denied food she could eat, with guards blaming her for her inability to eat the sandwich provided.
In a declaration prior to the BBC, Ice said that Ms. Kaur had “exhausted decades of regular procedure” and that an immigration judge had ordered her withdrawal in 2005.
“Harjit Kaur has filed several calls to the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and lost each time. Now that she has exhausted all legal appeals, ice applies US law and judge’s orders; she will no longer waste dollars of American taxpayers,” he added.
Ms. Kaur, who lived in Hercules in the San Francisco Bay region, worked for two decades as a seamstress of Sari and paid her taxes. Asylum candidates are allowed to live and work legally while their demands are underway.
“After having lived so long (in the United States), you are suddenly detained and deported in this way; it is better to die than to face this,” Kaur told Times of India After landing in Delhi on Thursday.
After her calls were rejected, Ms. Kaur continued to stay and work in the United States because she did not have the appropriate documents to return to India.
Since then, she has been invited to present herself to the immigration authorities every six months. She was arrested in San Francisco when she went to get a recording.
His arrest sparked a shock and indignation in the Sikh community, supporters organizing demonstrations in California.
The arrest and expulsion of Ms. Kaur occur in the midst of a broader repression of the Donald Trump administration on immigration, and in particular alleged illegal immigrants in the United States.
Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers arrive at the country’s borders each year and more than 3.7 million asylum cases are currently underway before the immigration courts.
Trump said he wanted to expel the “worst of the worst”, but criticism say that immigrants without a criminal record following a regular procedure have also been targeted.
