Indian Woman Deported From US, Was Denied Bed At Detention Centre: Lawyer

A 73-year-old Sikh woman from Punjab, Harjit Kaur, was among deportees from the United States who landed in India Thursday evening. She had been detained by California authorities during a routine check-in with the US' Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

On her arrival in India today her lawyer alleged Ms Kaur and other deportees - 131 of them, as the Donald Trump administration continues its controversial 'crackdown' on illegal migrants - on the flight had been treated badly. The lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, said one US official was going to shackle and handcuff Mrs Kaur, a grandmother, till another stopped him, citing her age.

US officials shackling men and women ejected from that country has been an issue since ICE began these flights; in February there was a massive political row, with the Congress ripping into the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, over visuals of handcuffed Indian citizens on deportee flights.

Mr Ahluwalia also said his client had been flown on a small aircraft chartered by ICE instead of pre-booked tickets on commercial passenger jets, as is the norm. And she was not given basic facilities at the detention centre, he said, claiming Ms Kaur slept on the floor and was denied a shower.

He pointed out Mrs Kaur had difficulty getting up from the floor due to surgery on both knees.

Ms Kaur - who went to the US in 1992 as a single mother with two sons - had been living in the US, in East Bay in northern California, for 30 years. She was undocumented, according to reports in the American media, but had 'faithfully reported to ICE', as required to by law in that country, every six months for over 13 years, her daughter-in-law, Manji Kaur, said.

Her deportation was criticised by US lawmakers; Congressman John Garamendi, a Democrat representing the Eighth District of California, called out President Trump for going after 'a 73-year-old woman - a respected member of the community with no criminal record'.

Mrs Kaur's asylum request had been turned down in 2012. But, even then, according to her daughter-in-law, she never shied away from facing customs officials or tried to avoid returning to India. In fact, she reportedly sought travel documents from the Indian consulate to do that.

However, that request was turned down, Manji Kaur said.

"She's eligible [and] always applied for a work permit. ...She pays taxes every year...She's going by the book. She doesn't even have, from my knowledge, and I would know, any violations for driving or anything like that," Manji Kaur said.