Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old Indian-origin woman who had been living in the US for the past 35 years, was detained by ICE agents in Texas, who asked her if she knew she had a deportation order and was in the country illegally. The Texas Observer reported that Batra is Texas’ only licensed Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu legal interpreter and is often contracted to help South Asians through the immigration court system. On March 17, while she was traveling to Wisconsin for a case, she was detained by ICE as she was going through security at Harlingen International Airport.Batra said in his statement that the people who arrested him did not have any visible badges and were not wearing uniforms. One of the agents asked her if she knew she was illegal. She replied that her work authorization status, for which she had regularly applied after being granted the legal status called a stay of removal by a New Jersey immigration judge decades ago, was good for the next four years. The agent replied, “That doesn’t mean you can stay here forever.” Batra told the Texas Observer that she had read a lot of news and so she followed their orders because she understood that if she said anything, they would accuse her of trying to avoid arrest. Deepak Ahluwalia, a California and Texas-based immigration lawyer representing Batra, filed the habeas petition.After handcuffing her, agents took Batra to ICE’s field office in Harlingen, where she was a familiar face as she had worked on many cases that required translation. “Batra was taken to various holding cells for 24 hours without food or water, first in Harlingen and then to the El Valle Detention Center outside Raymondville in neighboring Willacy County. “As of mid-April, she remains there without the consistent medical care she needed after surgery in December,” the Texas Observer reports.
Batra’s youngest son is in the army
Batra’s lawyers said the US government never told him it planned to deport him. One of Batra’s children recently joined the army and she filed a parole application for him. His lawyers have also filed a temporary restraining order to prevent ICE from moving him to another detention center. The Department of Homeland Security denied this and said that Batra had received a final order of removal from an immigration judge in 2000 and that she would remain in ICE custody until her removal.Ahluwalia said, “What is completely bizarre about this case (along with others) under the current administration is that they are detaining these individuals without any notice or resolution, and circumventing the laws by removing them to countries like Sudan. This is a clear violation of our laws and our client’s rights and we will fight until she is released.”
