Sikh groups rally for “peaceful grandmother” left without bed, toilet and water during ICE detainment

LATEST UPDATE- The 20th Sept demonstration outside the Bakersfield ICE detention facility was cancelled due to Harjit Kaur being removed from the site. Her current whereabouts are unknown, as ICE refuse to divulge more info.

Sikh groups are rallying in support for a 73-year-old Sikh grandmother who has been in the USA for 33-years, currently suffering amid imprisonment by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in California (USA).

Harjit Kaur, a resident of Bakersfield in California since 1992, was “dragged away by guards” on 8th September during a routine ICE check-in, which she had been doing for 13-years as required. She has been left in a local detainment facility since where she says she “would rather die” than be, due to various human rights breaches.

According to reports from her attorney Deepak Ahluwalia and also her daughter-in-law Manjit Kaur, Harjit Kaur has faced:

• being refused water
• staying in a cell without a chair or bed, with a broken toilet and no toilet paper
• denial of medicine and required medical treatment
• not being given a vegetarian meal for a week
• handcuffed and feet shackled for hours-at-a-time

The grandmother is considered an illegal alien because she did not have the required travel documents when arriving in the USA, coming as a widow with her two young sons as India’s Sikh genocide was still in a peak period. India would have only been four-years into existence as an independent nation when she was born, making it a period when not all individuals were able to obtain modern legal documentation such as a birth certificate. Harjit Kaur was allowed to stay in the USA based on a lengthy series of legal challenges she raised regarding her status. In 2012 her final appeal to stay was rejected, and Harjit Kaur accepted she would leave to return to Punjab. However, to return Harjit Kaur needed an emergency certificate – a one-way travel document for Indians of invalid status to enable them to return. This would require verifying Harjit Kaur’s origin and identity in Punjab through photos, cross-checking with relatives or acquaintances or finding old records. A decade since applying for this, between US immigration and India’s US embassy, Harjit Kaur has not received her emergency travel certificate. As such, she is still allowed to legally remain in the USA. The fact that she had 13-years of regular immigration check-ins makes her detainment with ICE seems unnecessary to many. Harjit Kaur has had a knee replacement and also deals with a variety of other medical issues, which are not being treated under ICE, according to her attorney.

Harjit Kaur worked several different jobs as legally entitled to do during her time in the USA, paying taxes and having an unblemished record whilst raising a family in Bakersfield. A rep of the local Gurdwara where Harjit Kaur attended daily said “she always helped people”. Hundreds of supporters turned up to a 12th September protest regarding her detainment. Harjit Kaur spent much of her day-to-day caring for her grandchildren, before her callous incarceration. Her family also say her Harjit Kaur no longer has any support (home or a family) in India.

Advocacy group Sikh Coalition are lobbying to have Harjit Kaur brought home to her family in Bakersfield, whilst community group Jakara Movement plan more demonstrations and community meetings on concerns about ICE. Recently Umeed Hope, an Indianapolis (Indiana) based Sikh-run charity, also highlighted community issues with ICE, underlining national Sikh community concerns.

Protests have been held across the US against a perceived heavy-handed approach by ICE, amid wider divisions around anti-immigrant sentiment under the President Trump regime. Much of the support for the current ICE campaign was based on an idea the “worst-of-the-worst” would be targeted according to Trump, and not “peaceful grandmothers”, as Harjit Kaur’s local Senator Jesse Arreguin put it, whilst calling her imprisonment “shameful”.

Harjit Kaur’s local congressman John Garamendi said ICE’s treatment of Harjit Kaur showed “misplaced priorities of Trump’s immigration enforcement”, whilst calling her a “respected member of the community”. An official ICE response to the situation said they were simply “enforcing the law” and that Harjit Kaur would not be allowed to “waste any more US tax dollars”. Contrary to this, some estimate the cost of imprisoning Harjit Kaur is costing the taxpayer more than it would be to simply appropriately process her case, without needing to imprison her. Harjit Kaur’s family are also saying they will immediately facilitate her travel to India upon release when the necessary certification is received.

Another rally is set for TODAY (20th September) as efforts for her release continue.

Find further detail on her situation at BringHarjitHome.com.