Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old Indian-American woman who has lived in the United States for 35 years, was detained by ICE agents in Texas, who asked him if he knew he had a deportation order and was staying illegally. Batra is the only licensed legal interpreter in Texas for Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, and she is often hired to help South Asians navigate the immigration court system, the Texas Observer reported. On March 17, she was detained by ICE while going through security at Harlingen International Airport on her way to Wisconsin to handle a case.Batra said in a statement that her arresters did not have any visible badges and were not wearing uniforms. An agent asked her if she knew she was an illegal immigrant. She responded that her work authorization status, which she applied for regularly after being granted legal status with a “withhold of deportation” decades ago by a New Jersey immigration judge, was valid for four years. “That doesn’t mean you can stay here forever,” the agent responded. Batra told the Texas Observer that she read enough news that she complied with their orders because she understood that if she said anything, they would charge her with trying to evade arrest. Deepak Ahluwalia, a California and Texas immigration attorney representing Batra, filed a habeas corpus petition.After handcuffing her, agents took Batra to ICE’s field office in Harlingen, where she was a well-known figure because she worked on many cases that required translators. “Batra was moved to various holding cells without food and water, first in Harlingen and then to the El Valle Detention Center outside of Raymondville in neighboring Willacy County. As of mid-April, she was still there without access to the ongoing medical care she needed after surgery in December,” the Texas Observer reported.
Batra’s youngest son joins army
Batra’s lawyer said the U.S. government never told her it planned to deport her. One of Batra’s children had recently enlisted in the army and a parole application was filed on her behalf. Her attorneys also filed a temporary restraining order to try to prevent ICE from transferring her to another detention center. The Department of Homeland Security countered that Batra received a final deportation order from an immigration judge in 2000 and that she will remain in ICE custody pending deportation.“What is completely bizarre about this case (and others) under this administration is that they are detaining these individuals without any notice or motion and circumventing the law by transferring them to countries such as Sudan. This is a clear violation of our laws and our client’s rights, and we will fight until she is released,” Ahluwalia said.