‘My mom’s story is not unique’: Daughter of Indian-American translator Meenu Batra arrested by ICE breaks silence

Mennu Batra’s daughter calls on US ICE to release her mother. (Photo: CBS)

Amrita Singh, the daughter of Meenu Batra, an Indian-American legal interpreter in Texas who has been detained by ICE since March 17, expressed her silence about the inhumane treatment of people in a “broken” immigration system. “Who benefits from family breakdown? This country was built by immigrants and I am proud to be the daughter of immigrants. Please help us bring my mom home,” Singer wrote in a social media post. “She immigrated to this country from India in the early 1990s after the tragic death of my grandparents. Despite experiencing unimaginable grief and trauma, she came to the United States to reunite with her family. She applied for asylum upon arrival (after a nine-year wait) and was granted a stay of removal in 2000 by an immigration judge in Newark, New Jersey. With this protection, she has worked and lived in the United States for 35 years,” Amrita wrote. Four siblings, Amrita, Lucas, Aryan and Jasper, spoke to CBS News and spoke with their mother via video call. “I made an honest living, worked hard, raised four kids on my own. My job speaks for itself,” Batra said in an interview with CBS. “I’m here, I’m legal, I’m not going to be deported, so I have nothing to worry about. I can live, I can work. That’s what I want to do,” Batra said when asked what her “deportation moratorium” status means. Batra’s attorneys fear the Department of Homeland Security may send her to a third country because they are unable to return her to India.

Did Meenu Batra come to the United States legally?

The widely reported incident sparked a massive controversy over whether Batra came to the United States legally. As far as we know so far, Batra fled to the United States after his parents were murdered. She applied for asylum but was not granted it; but she was granted a status that could not be taken away. This status allows Batra to live and work in the United States legally, but she will never be able to apply for citizenship. The Department of Homeland Security said Batra’s legal authorization to work in the United States does not make her a legal resident.