'She is Not a Threat': Outrage as 73-Year-Old Sikh Grandmother is Detained by ICE
The sudden detention of a 73-year-old Sikh grandmother during a routine immigration check-in has ignited a firestorm of protest and condemnation in Northern California, turning a local case into a potent symbol of what critics are calling the "misplaced priorities" of the current administration's immigration policy. Harjit Kaur, a respected community member who has lived in the United States for over three decades, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, a move that has left her family in a "state of shock" and mobilized a powerful coalition of community advocates and political leaders demanding her immediate release.
A Decades-Long Resident, Suddenly Detained
Harjit Kaur's story is one of long-term integration and consistent compliance. She arrived in the United States from India in 1992 as a single mother with two sons, building a life and a community in the East Bay over the next 30 years. For more than two decades, she worked at a local Indian clothing store and became a beloved "mother figure" to many. Although her asylum case was denied in 2012, her family asserts that she has been a model of compliance, faithfully reporting to the ICE office in San Francisco for a routine check-in every six months for the past 13 years. According to her family, ICE had given them assurances that she could remain in the country under an order of supervision, complete with work permits, as long as she continued to comply. This long history of cooperation is what makes her sudden detention so bewildering and, for her supporters, so unjust.
A Community Rallies in Protest
The response from the community was immediate and powerful. Within days of her detention, hundreds of people, including family, neighbors, and members of local advocacy groups, gathered to protest, calling for her freedom. The rally drew the attention of local elected officials and the office of US Representative John Garamendi, who have all stepped in to support her case. In a strongly worded statement, Congressman Garamendi slammed the administration's actions, contrasting them with President Trump's promise to target the "worst of the worst." The decision to detain a "73-year-old woman, a respected member of the community with no criminal record," he stated, is "one more example of the misplaced priorities of Trump’s immigration enforcement." His office has sent a formal inquiry to ICE and pledged to do everything possible to support her case.
A Family's Fear for Her Health
Beyond the shock and the sense of injustice, Harjit Kaur's family is consumed with fear for her well-being. Now held in a detention center in Bakersfield, the 73-year-old suffers from a number of serious health issues, including thyroid disease, migraines, knee pain, and anxiety. Her family argues that detaining an elderly woman with these conditions puts her life at significant risk. "She is not doing any harm to the community," a local council member stated at the protest. "She has all the rights to be here as a community member." For her granddaughters, who describe her as "independent, selfless, and hard-working," the detention is a cruel and inexplicable blow to the matriarch of their family, a woman who has spent three decades contributing to the fabric of her adopted home, only to now find herself treated as a threat.
