An Indian family of four – mother, father and two children – spent nearly 90 days in the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, their future looking bleak and their health deteriorating. They were arrested in February during a routine check-in appointment and housed at the controversial center, which reopened after Donald Trump’s administration resumed detention of the families last year. Ms. Rachel, a YouTuber who has advocated closing ICE detention centers, visited Dilley and met with Indian families.“I never thought I would be advocating for a family member to be released from prison. It is an honor to meet this hardworking, kind family. Please release them. Guri was bleeding while going to the toilet and was not given proper care, which is dangerous medical negligence,” Ms. Rachel wrote.Guri is a 12-year-old boy in the family who has been suffering from bloody stools. The incident began before he was detained, but he received no treatment after the family was rounded up and placed in a home jail. His 11-year-old sister, Manpreet, often vomited because the tap water hurt her stomach. “Both children were kind, but you could tell they were frustrated,” Ms. Rachel wrote.“Their mother’s condition is getting worse day by day as she does not have the right medicines and treatments for her diabetes and arthritis. Manpreet and Guri are very concerned and worried about their mother, taking care of her as she has difficulty moving around because of the pain. Both children cannot sleep properly at night because the lights are on 24/7,” Rachel wrote. “Their dad worked hard at 7-Eleven and Uber to make ends meet. He was in tears several times. It was a privilege to meet their hard-working, kind-hearted family, and it was shocking to see their condition deteriorate due to prison-like home detention,” Ms. Rachel added. Jagdish, the child’s father, came to the United States in 2022 to seek asylum. He reportedly cited ongoing threats and violence against the community in the Indian state of Punjab because he converted from Sikhism to Catholicism. The family settled in downtown Los Angeles, near the Jagdish brothers’ families.Gurwinder and his children follow the Sikh Hindu religion and are supposed to eat vegetarian food on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there are no vegetable options at the detention center. So they eat nothing during those days.“I fear I came here to save myself but I ended up ruining three people’s lives,” Jagdish told The Guardian earlier in an interview.
