Minu Batra’s attorney, Deepak Ahluwalia, spoke about the next step in their legal battle after Batra’s release from ICE custody after six weeks.
Meenu Batra, an Indian native, who was arrested by ICE for being an undocumented individual in the United States and living since 1991, remains in the clear after her release from ICE detention for six weeks, his lawyer Deepak Ahluwalia said in an interview.
Her release was a victory, and now she cannot be detained again without notice, but now they are pushing for military parole for her, as her son is in the US Army, so Batra can get a green card.Ahluwalia said the arrest was not necessary at all because Batra had been living in the United States for 35 years, paying taxes and working as a legal translator for the courts. She was never contacted by ICE or given any information about her but was surrounded by ICE agents when she was on a business trip as if she was a cartel member.
It was not possible to deport Batra to India as there was a previous court order to that effect and the administration was planning to send her to a third country.
Ahluwalia said that no third country was named during the six weeks of detention by the administration because they had no plan.They arrested Minnie Batra first and didn’t know what to do, the lawyer said, adding that ICE was pushing for more arrests because they had a quota to meet.
Placing people in detention centers also brings profit to the companies that run these centres, which explains the complex system that operates in a gross miscarriage of justice.Ahluwalia said Minu Patra qualifies for military parole as a family member of an Army soldier. If they can get that, they will apply for a green card for Meenu.Reflecting on his conversation with Batra after her release, Ahluwalia said Batra considered herself an emotionally strong person while fleeing the Sikh genocide in India, but the ICE arrest shook her to the core.Ahluwalia said Minu Batra’s arrest also had a racial element, instilling fear in other migrants as well.Meenu Batra came to the United States in 1991 after her parents were killed in Punjab. She did not enter the country legally, but in 2000 she was granted a legal status known as “suspension of removal,” which prevented her from being returned to India for fear of persecution.
