73-year-old Indian woman deported from US sparks outrage over treatment by ICE

Bibi Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old who had lived in the United States for more than three decades, was deported to India this week by US immigration authorities, raising widespread concern among immigrant rights groups. Her lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, said Kaur was not allowed a final meeting with her family before being sent back in handcuffs.

Kaur arrived in the US from India in 1992 as a single mother with two sons and had applied for asylum multiple times. After her last appeal was rejected in 2012, she was required by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to report every six months, a condition she had complied with for over 13 years.

On 8 September, during a routine check-in, Kaur was taken into custody. According to her lawyer, she was transferred unexpectedly from Bakersfield to Los Angeles and then placed on a chartered flight to Georgia, without prior notice to her family or legal representatives.

Despite efforts to arrange travel on a commercial flight, ICE proceeded with her deportation.

During her detention in Georgia, Kaur was reportedly held in a temporary facility without a bed, forced to sleep on the floor with only a blanket, and denied adequate food and water. Her requests to contact her attorney were ignored, and she was not allowed to shower, receiving only wet wipes to clean herself before her flight to India.

Kaur arrived in Delhi on 23 September. Her family had arranged a commercial flight for her return, but ICE placed her on a chartered deportation flight via Armenia, denying her the opportunity to say goodbye to relatives or collect her belongings.

The case has sparked criticism from immigrant rights advocates, who have described the deportation as unnecessarily harsh and inhumane.

With agency inputs