A 73-year-old grandmother who spent more than three decades living in the US has been deported to India.
Harjit Kaur, who had unsuccessfully applied for asylum in the US, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on 8 September, sparking shock among the Sikh community.
She moved to California in 1991 with her two young sons to escape political turmoil in Punjab and lived and worked there while making several unsuccessful asylum attempts in the US.
Her lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, has alleged that Ms Kaur – who has no criminal record – was treated in an “unacceptable” manner by ICE officials during her detention.
Ms Kaur was moved to a holding facility in Georgia on 19 September and deported to India on 22 September, never getting to visit her US home or bid a proper farewell to family and friends, Mr Ahluwalia said.
Mr Ahluwalia described Ms Kaur’s treatment in an Instagram video as “unacceptable”, saying she spent 60-70 hours in detention without a bed, forced to sleep on the floor despite double knee replacements.
He alleged she was given ice to take medication and denied food she could eat, with guards blaming her for her inability to eat the provided sandwich.
In an earlier statement to the BBC, ICE said Ms Kaur had “exhausted decades of due process” and that an immigration judge had ordered her removal in 2005.
“Harjit Kaur has filed multiple appeals all the way up to the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals and LOST each time. Now that she has exhausted all legal remedies, ICE is enforcing US law and the orders by the judge; she will not waste any more US tax dollars,” it added.
Ms Kaur, who lived in Hercules in the San Francisco Bay Area, worked for two decades as a sari-store seamstress and paid her taxes. Asylum applicants are allowed to live and work legally while their claims are in process.
“After living for so long (in the US), you are suddenly detained and deported this way; it is better to die than to face this,” Ms Kaur told Times of India newspaper after landing in Delhi on Thursday.
After her appeals were rejected, Ms Kaur continued to stay and work in the US, as she lacked the proper documents to return to India.
Since then, she was asked to report to immigration authorities every six months. She was arrested in San Francisco when she had gone for a check-in.
Her arrest sparked shock and outrage in the Sikh community, with supporters holding protests in California.
Ms Kaur’s arrest and deportation comes amid a wider crackdown by the Donald Trump administration on immigration, and especially alleged illegal immigrants in the US.
Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers arrive at the country’s borders every year and more than 3.7 million asylum cases are currently pending in immigration courts.
Trump has said he wants to deport the “worst of the worst”, but critics say immigrants without criminal records who follow due process have also been targeted.
