Grandmother who worked in Berkeley deported to India; ICE denied her water and toilet paper, she says

"Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Hercules resident who worked in Berkeley for 20 years, has been deported to India after a 15-day detention during which, she said, she experienced harrowing conditions. Courtesy of her family Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old East Bay woman who was detained for 15 days by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a routine check-in was deported to her home country of India this week."

"Kaur, a grandmother of five, was denied asylum and tried to appeal several times. When her appeal was denied at the federal appeals court, she was willing to self deport but in 13 years was never given travel documents from the Indian Consulate, her family said. Every roughly six months, Kaur faithfully visited the ICE office in San Francisco to check in, her family said."

"So, on Sept. 8, at one of those check-in, her detention shocked her family and the wider community, which held a rally on Sept. 12 in El Sobrante to show their support for her. About 200 people protested in El Sobrante Sept. 12 to demand the release of Harjit Kaur from ICE detention. On Mon., Sept. 22 she was deported to India after living in the United States for 33 years."

Harjit Kaur, 73, lived in the United States for 33 years and worked in Berkeley for 20 years as a seamstress. She came as a single mother in 1991, regularly attended the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara, and is a grandmother of five. She was denied asylum and exhausted appeals; after a federal appeals court decision she sought to self-deport but did not receive travel documents from the Indian Consulate for 13 years. She checked in with ICE every six months and had annual work permit renewals. On Sept. 8 she was detained during a routine check-in, held in multiple detention centers, and deported to India on Sept. 22. About 200 people rallied to demand her release.

Read at richmondside.org