Deported After 33 Years in the US, 73-Year-Old Punjab Woman Alleges Mistreatment
When asked about the food and medicines she was provided with during the flight, Harjit Kaur said that she was just given “some chips and two cookies.”
After spending over three decades in the United States, 73-year-old Harjit Kaur has returned to India under distressing circumstances. Deported from the US earlier this month, Kaur now alleges she was mistreated during her arrest and deportation process, claiming she was denied proper food, medicine, and basic dignity.
Speaking to the media from her sister's home in Mohali, Kaur recounted her ordeal. “I was arrested on September 8 and taken to Fresno. From there, I was moved to Bakersfield, where I stayed for 8–10 days, and then to Arizona,” she said. Eventually, she was placed on a nearly 19-hour flight to Delhi. Her brother-in-law picked her up at the airport.
Kaur, a vegetarian, said she could not eat the food provided during her detention. “They served beef, which I don’t eat. I was only given some chips and two cookies during the flight,” she said, adding that she was not given any medicine or proper meals throughout the journey.
Her lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, described the conditions she endured before deportation as “inhumane.” He said Kaur was held in a temporary facility in Georgia for nearly three days, where she had to sleep on the floor despite having undergone double knee replacement surgery. “She was denied a shower and forced to clean herself with wet wipes before the flight,” he added.
Kaur was deported along with 132 others, including 15 Colombian nationals. Fortunately, she was not cuffed during the flight. “There were two kind officers who decided not to cuff me, although most of the other deportees were shackled,” she said.
Kaur, who moved to the US in 1992 as a single mother with two sons, had her asylum request denied in 2012. According to her daughter-in-law, Manji Kaur, she had consistently reported to immigration authorities every six months for over 13 years.
Now back in India, Kaur says she feels helpless and uncertain about the future. “Whatever has to be done will be done by my children. I cannot do anything,” she said, but added without hesitation: “If given the chance, I would definitely return to the US. My whole family is there.”