CHANDIGARH: A 53-year-old court interpreter from Punjab, who has lived in the United States for more than three decades, has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas, even as her son was recently enlisted in the US Army.
Meenu Batra, a certified interpreter fluent in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, was detained on March 17 by ICE officers at Harlingen International Airport while travelling to Milwaukee for an immigration court assignment.
Plainclothes agents allegedly stopped her after she cleared airport security, questioned her immigration status and took her away in an unmarked vehicle.
She is currently being held at the El Valle Detention Centre. More than a month later, she remains in custody, with no clear explanation from authorities on why she is being held, her lawyers said.
Batra holds a master-level interpreter licence from Texas and is a member of the American Translators Association.
Her legal team, including immigration lawyers Deepak Ahluwali and Robert Ray Urenda II, has filed a habeas corpus petition in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The petition argues that her detention is unlawful and violates due process protections because she holds valid work authorisation under a “withholding of removal” order granted years ago by an immigration judge in New Jersey.
Her lawyers have argued that the action targets a long-time resident with a clean record and circumvents established legal protections.
They are also seeking to prevent her transfer to another facility and have requested her immediate release.
According to the petition, Batra was held for nearly 24 hours without food or water and was denied medication prescribed for her cholesterol for several days.
It also stated that she is recovering from recent surgeries and has developed a respiratory illness.
Batra is a single mother of four children. One of her sons, who was recently enlisted in the US military, has submitted a parole application on her behalf that could allow her to remain in the country temporarily.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Batra has a final removal order dating back to 2000 and will remain in custody pending further proceedings. A final removal order is a binding administrative or judicial decision requiring a non-citizen to leave the US.
“She will remain in ICE custody pending removal and will receive full due process. Employment authorization does not confer any type of legal status in the United States,” the spokesperson said.
The government has until April 21 to respond to the petition.
Batra had moved to the United States as a child in the late 1980s after her parents were killed during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.