Minu Batra talks about being detained by ICE after living in the US for 35 years.
In her first interview after being released from ICE detention for more than six weeks, Indian-origin Texas woman Minu Batra told CBS News exclusively that she fears she may be arrested again.
Batra had been living in the United States since 1991 after she fled India following the killing of her parents in Punjab. In 2000, Batra obtained court protection that she could not be deported to her country of origin due to fear of persecution, and she was also allowed to work legally in the United States.Batra, a single mother of four children, including an army soldier, works as a court interpreter as she is fluent in Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi in addition to English. While traveling to Wisconsin for work on March 17, she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at an airport in Texas. Donald Trump’s administration said she was staying in the US illegally and could be deported to a third country, not India.
Earlier this month, she was released after a court questioned the legality of her detention. Speaking about her detention, Batra told CBS News that the hardest part was the dehumanization and uncertainty. In response to Chanel Cole’s question about whether she was afraid that she might be arrested again, Batra said that she was very afraid that it might happen again. “I hate to admit it,” Batra said of life after her release. “I went grocery shopping that day. It was strange. This is my city, my people, and yet I was constantly observing life after her release.” Batra’s lawyer, Deepak Ahluwalia, had previously said they were trying to get military parole for Parta and her son into the US Army. If she gets it, they will apply for her green card at the end of this year.