Meenu Batra walked out of ICE custody on April 30 after a federal judge ordered her release, ending 45 days in detention that began with her arrest at a Texas airport on March 17. She had been on her way to Milwaukee for work when agents took her in.
The 53-year-old said she believes the government had no reason to hold her at all. The judge agreed, ruling that she had been detained for no discernible reason. Batra said the case has left her shaken and afraid of being taken again, adding that after what happened she feels that “No one is safe,” and that being locked up made her feel small, as if she were not equal and not human.
Batra was held at El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, where she spent more than six weeks before her release. She said DHS described her as an illegal alien from India, but she has said she has lived and worked legally in the United States for decades and believes she has the documents to prove it. “I believe in the system. I believe I have the documents,” she said. She also told reporters that when agents confronted her, she told them, “No, sir, I have my documents with me, in my bag right now.”
The dispute goes back to a removal order DHS says was issued by an immigration judge in 2000. Batra said her path to the United States began as a teenager, after her parents were killed during an outbreak of violence against members of India’s Sikh community. She applied for asylum and was later granted withholding of removal status, a form of protection that let her remain in the country but did not allow her to apply for citizenship.
That restriction now matters more than ever in her telling. Batra said her son Jasper joined the Army a few months ago, and she believes that could give her a route to citizenship because parents of U.S. service members are eligible to apply. She has four children, and she said one of them still cannot sleep through the night since the arrest. “My daughter doesn't sleep at night time,” Batra said. “She keeps watch on me. Anytime a car passes by, she becomes fearful that somebody is here to … get you.”
Her habeas petition against the government is still pending, and that means the legal fight is not over even though she is out of custody. Batra said the experience has left her angry at the way the system treated her, calling it “very disrespectful to the judges and judiciary,” and adding, “They forget that aliens are humans and humans have rights.” For now, her release has given her breathing room, but not certainty that she will stay free.