‘Not Allowed To Say Bye To Family’: 73-Year-Old Punjabi Woman Deported From US After 33 Years

Last Updated:September 25, 2025, 19:12 IST

Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old woman from Punjab, was deported from the US after more than three decades.

Harjit Kaur arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on September 23.

A 73-year-old woman from Punjab has been deported from the United States after more than three decades, in a move immigrant rights advocates described as cruel and unnecessary. Harjit Kaur arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on September 23 after being put on a chartered flight by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to her lawyer Deepak Ahluwalia.

Deepak Ahluwalia said Harjit Kaur was suddenly taken from Bakersfield to Los Angeles on Sunday night, flown to Georgia and then transferred to New Delhi. He alleged her journey back was marked by harsh treatment, including shackling, confinement in bare concrete cells and denial of basic amenities.

“She was not even allowed to say goodbye to her family or collect her belongings,” Deepak Ahluwalia said, calling the deportation “inhumane.”

The Sikh Coalition, which has taken up Harjit Kaur’s case, described the deportation as “beyond unacceptable,” citing her age, widowhood and medical conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes. Her detention began on September 8, when she went for what she thought was a routine check-in at the San Francisco ICE office. Instead, she was arrested and transferred between detention facilities in Fresno and Bakersfield, where her family said she had inconsistent access to prescribed medication.

Harjit Kaur migrated to the US in 1992 as a single mother. She worked as a seamstress in an Indian saree shop, paid taxes and volunteered at gurdwaras. Her asylum application was rejected and a removal order was issued in 2005. For more than 13 years she complied with ICE protocols, including check-ins and work permit renewals while awaiting delayed travel documents from the Indian consulate.

Her sudden removal prompted protests in California as hundreds gathered in El Sobrante with signs reading “Hands off our grandma” and “Harjit Kaur belongs here.” Congressman John Garamendi, California Senator Jesse Arreguin and other local leaders urged ICE to halt the deportation, describing it as a “misplaced priority.”

ICE defended its actions, noting, “Harjit 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; she will not waste any more US tax dollars.”

Rights groups, however, said her case highlighted the human cost of stepped-up deportations under the Trump administration. The Sikh Coalition said, “This deportation is not just about one grandmother. It is about the systemic cruelty inflicted on immigrant families who have lived, worked and served their communities in America for decades.”

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