PIO court interpreter, 53, detained by ICE in Texas

Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old Indian-origin woman, has been detained by the US ICE in Texas, triggering a legal challenge over the lawfulness of her custody. Batra has lived in the US for over 35 years and is the only licensed Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu court interpreter in Texas, helping hundreds of people in immigration court for years.

She was detained on March 17 at Harlingen International Airport while travelling to Milwaukee for an immigration court assignment. ICE officers stopped her and handcuffed her. She tried to clarify she had a valid status and a legal work permit, yet was arrested and transferred to the El Valle detention facility in Raymondville.

Speaking to The Guardian from jail, Batra called her detention “bizarre”. She said she was treated like a criminal and feared being deported to a country where she has never been. “I haven’t been able to cry much because nothing is making sense. I don’t know how else to put it. Here I am just staring at the wall, wondering what exactly I’m doing here, but also what anybody is doing here.”

Batra moved to the US in 1991 as a child after her parents were killed in the anti-Sikh violence of 1984. She has spent almost all of her adult life in South Texas, raising her four children. Her son recen­tly enlisted in the US Army.

Batra has filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention. In her petition, she said she was initially detained without food or water for 24 hours, and even denied her medication. She also alleged that after her arrest, officers made her pose for photographs with her hands behind her back, giving the impression she was still handcuffed. They told her the images were “for social media”.