'Lived for 33 years in US': Punjabi grandmother, 73, detained by ICE; community outraged

A 73-year-old Punjabi grandmother who has lived in the Bay Area for more than three decades has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), leaving her family and community in disbelief.

Harjit Kaur, a seamstress from Hercules, California, had been complying with immigration check-ins every six months for the past 13 years. According to her family, she has no criminal record and has worked and paid taxes since arriving in the US in the early 1990s. But as Fox News affiliate KTVU reported, she was unexpectedly detained on Monday during what was supposed to be a routine appointment at the San Francisco ICE office.


Her daughter-in-law, Manjit Kaur, described her deteriorating condition: “Just the sound in her voice yesterday, I could hear the anxiety, I could hear that she's losing her strength, breaking down. I'm very concerned as far as her health. She's not getting her medication. Emotionally, she's a mess.”

Relatives said Kaur was transferred from San Francisco to a detention centre in Bakersfield. For the first time in August, ICE had not allowed family members to accompany her to an appointment, raising further alarm. Her granddaughter, Sukhmeet Sandhu, told ABC7 News: “They just said we are detaining your grandma and didn’t give me any other information, didn’t let me see her. And after that, we didn’t hear from her for hours and when we did hear from her, she was crying and begging us for help.”

Her grandson Ikjot Sandhu added: “My grandmother, she was more like a mother to me. For the last 26 years, she’s been taking care of me.” Her niece, Sukhjit Kaur, said: “I feel very sad, I feel helpless, I feel like there’s nothing we can do and this is our only voice. There are thousands of Harjits locked up.”

Around 200 people gathered in El Sobrante on Friday to demand her release. Demonstrators held placards reading “Hands off our grandma” and “She’s no criminal,” while passing drivers honked in solidarity.

Congressman John Garamendi has intervened, saying his office has filed an inquiry with ICE. In a statement carried by KTVU, he said: “President Trump initially promised to go after the ‘worst of the worst’ in his immigration policy. Yet this administration’s decision to detain a 73-year-old woman—a respected member of the community with no criminal record who has faithfully reported to ICE every six months for more than 13 years—is one more example of the misplaced priorities of Trump’s immigration enforcement.”

ABC7 News reported that Garamendi’s office is pushing for her release, while the Indian community and neighbours continue to rally. “It’s on the back of women like her that I’m able to be a doctor,” said family friend Puga Thakkar.