73-year-old woman deported after 30 years in US, sparks outrage, protests

After living in the United States for more than three decades, 73-year-old Harjit Kaur from Punjab was deported to India this week, a decision immigrant rights advocates have described as harsh and unnecessary. Kaur landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on September 23. According to her lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, she was suddenly taken from Bakersfield to Los Angeles on Sunday night, placed on a chartered flight to Georgia, and then flown to New Delhi.

Ahluwalia described her journey as deeply distressing, marked by “prolonged shackling, confinement in bare concrete cells, and denial of basic amenities.” He added that Kaur was not allowed to say goodbye to her family or collect her belongings, calling the process “inhumane.”

Her family had pleaded for two simple requests: that she be sent back on a commercial flight and permitted to meet her loved ones for a few hours. “They refused to listen,” Ahluwalia said.

The Sikh Coalition, which is supporting her case, condemned the deportation as “beyond unacceptable,” noting that Kaur is an elderly widow with high blood pressure and diabetes.

Kaur had been detained on September 8 after visiting the San Francisco ICE office for a routine check-in. She was arrested and transferred between detention facilities in Fresno and Bakersfield, where, according to her family, she spent two weeks without consistent access to prescribed medications.

Having moved to the US in 1992 as a single mother, Kaur worked as a seamstress at an Indian saree store, paid taxes, and volunteered at gurdwaras. Although her asylum application was denied and a removal order issued in 2005, she complied with ICE protocols for over 13 years, attending check-ins and renewing work permits while awaiting travel documents from the Indian consulate.

Her sudden deportation triggered protests in California. Hundreds gathered in El Sobrante holding signs that read “Hands off our grandma” and “Harjit Kaur belongs here.” Local leaders, including Congressman John Garamendi and California Senator Jesse Arreguin, urged ICE to reconsider, calling her detention a “misplaced priority.”

ICE defended its decision, telling the BBC: “Kaur has filed multiple appeals all the way up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and LOST each time. Now that she has exhausted all legal remedies, ICE is enforcing US law and the orders by the judge.”

Rights groups argue that her case highlights the human cost of stricter deportation policies. The Sikh Coalition stated, “This deportation is not just about one grandmother. It reflects the systemic cruelty inflicted on immigrant families who have lived, worked, and served their communities in America for decades.”