‘Dadi, do you have a bed?’: 73-yr-old raised a family in the US, then they threw her out in chains

After 33 years in the United States, 73-year-old Harjit Kaur was deported in handcuffs, shackled like a fugitive. Now sleeping on borrowed beds in Mohali, she’s left wondering how a country she served for decades turned its back without warning.

For more than three decades, Harjit Kaur built a life in America. She raised children, paid taxes, and never missed a routine immigration check-in. But when she walked into the ICE office for her latest appointment, everything changed.

“They didn’t say anything. Just arrested me,” she recalled. “They locked me in a freezing room and gave me only a piece of aluminum foil to cover myself. I kept asking why, but no one listened.”

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accused her of overstaying her visa. Her family insists she has no criminal record and had been actively pursuing legal residency for years. “In 33 years, people get regularised,” Kaur said. “I had documents, a driver’s license, I paid taxes—what else does a person need to be considered human?”

The next morning, Kaur was shackled—hands and feet—and transferred to a detention facility in Bakersfield, Arizona. “There was no bed, just a small wooden plank. They gave me a sandwich with cheese and beef. I told them I was vegetarian. After that, they gave me chips and two biscuits. I survived on that for ten days.”

Kaur, who has undergone two surgeries and relies on daily medication, says officials ignored her medical needs. “No one gave me my medicines. They didn’t even ask.”

When her deportation was finalized, Kaur was flown to India, her limbs still bound. “Only after I boarded the plane did they remove the handcuffs. What threat did I pose to them?”

Back in Punjab, Kaur finds herself in a homeland that no longer feels like home. Her parents and younger brother passed away during her time in the U.S. She never got to say goodbye.

“Today I’m at my sister’s house. Tomorrow, maybe my brother’s. I have no home, no land, no savings. My grandchildren ask on video calls, ‘Dadi, do you have a bed?’ That question hurts more than anything.”

Her relative Kulwant Singh is furious. “They treated her like a criminal. She’s a 73-year-old woman—what kind of system puts her in chains?”

Kaur is still trying to process the ordeal. “America used to be the land of immigrants. Now it feels like it has lost its soul.”