A 73-year-old Punjabi grandmother who has lived in the Bay Area for greater than three many years has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), leaving her household and community in disbelief.Harjit Kaur, a seamstress from Hercules, California, had been complying with immigration check-ins each six months for the previous 13 years. According to her household, she has no legal document and has labored and paid taxes since arriving in the US in the early Nineties. But as Fox News affiliate KTVU reported, she was unexpectedly detained on Monday throughout what was alleged to be a routine appointment on the San Francisco ICE workplace.
Her daughter-in-law, Manjit Kaur, described her deteriorating situation: “Just the sound in her voice yesterday, I could hear the anxiety, I could hear that she’s losing her strength, breaking down. I’m very concerned as far as her health. She’s not getting her medication. Emotionally, she’s a mess.”Relatives stated Kaur was transferred from San Francisco to a detention centre in Bakersfield. For the primary time in August, ICE had not allowed members of the family to accompany her to an appointment, elevating additional alarm. Her granddaughter, Sukhmeet Sandhu, advised ABC7 News: “They just said we are detaining your grandma and didn’t give me any other information, didn’t let me see her. And after that, we didn’t hear from her for hours and when we did hear from her, she was crying and begging us for help.”Her grandson Ikjot Sandhu added: “My grandmother, she was more like a mother to me. For the last 26 years, she’s been taking care of me.” Her niece, Sukhjit Kaur, stated: “I feel very sad, I feel helpless, I feel like there’s nothing we can do and this is our only voice. There are thousands of Harjits locked up.”Around 200 individuals gathered in El Sobrante on Friday to demand her launch. Demonstrators held placards studying “Hands off our grandma” and “She’s no criminal,” whereas passing drivers honked in solidarity.Congressman John Garamendi has intervened, saying his workplace has filed an inquiry with ICE. In an announcement carried by KTVU, he stated: “President Trump initially promised to go after the ‘worst of the worst’ in his immigration policy. Yet this administration’s decision to detain a 73-year-old woman—a respected member of the community with no criminal record who has faithfully reported to ICE every six months for more than 13 years—is one more example of the misplaced priorities of Trump’s immigration enforcement.”ABC7 News reported that Garamendi’s workplace is pushing for her launch, whereas the Indian community and neighbours proceed to rally. “It’s on the back of women like her that I’m able to be a doctor,” stated household pal Puga Thakkar.