Detention of 73-year-old Sikh grandmother in California sparks outrage and sympathy

Amid the ongoing US crackdown on undocumented immigrants, the detention of a Sikh grandmother has triggered an outpouring of emotions across borders. Harjit Kaur, 73, who has lived in California for more than three decades, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on September 8 during a routine check-in.

Kaur had applied for asylum in the US multiple times, with her last application rejected in 2012. Her arrest has drawn sympathy and sadness from the Sikh community across California and beyond.

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Following the rejection of her asylum pleas, immigration authorities had directed her to report to them every six months. She was detained in San Francisco during one such scheduled visit.

According to her attorney, Kaur had consistently complied with ICE requirements for more than a decade. Her arrest has sparked protests. Last Friday, around 200 people gathered in El Sobrante to demand her release, carrying placards reading “Hands off our grandma” and “She’s no criminal.”

Kaur, a mother of two and grandmother of five, has lived in the United States since 1992. She has no criminal record, her attorney Deepak Ahluwalia emphasized.

She had earlier appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals after her asylum case was denied in 2007. Because of her final order of removal, she was required to check in regularly with ICE, which granted her temporary legal authorization to work. Despite her compliance, she was detained on September 8 at the San Francisco ICE facility.

Within hours, Kaur was transferred to an office in Fresno and later taken in handcuffs to a detention center in Bakersfield, where she arrived at 3 am the next day, according to her lawyer.

Ahluwalia further alleged that during her brief detention in Fresno, Kaur was kept in a cell without a bed or chair, only a toilet without toilet paper. When she requested water, officials allegedly told her she could not have any.