A 73-year old East Bay grandmother, Harjit Kaur, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during a routine check-in this week. On Friday her family and about 200 community members protested to demand her release.
Dozens of people held signs that read “bring grandma home” at the intersection of Appian Way and San Pablo Dam Road in El Sobrante (below the El Sobrante Gurdwara). When some were asked if she was their grandma, they said she is everyone’s grandma.
Kaur’s grandaughter Sukhdeep Kaur said the love and support has been a light for her family during this difficult time.
“We are all just in a state of shock,” Sukhdeep Kaur told Richmondside at the gathering. “I never thought something like this would happen, especially with her history and her being such a huge part of the community. It’s just outrageous.”
Harjit Kaur has lived in the East Bay for more than 30 years. She lives in Hercules but worked for two decades at a small business, Sari Palace, in Berkeley and regularly attended the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara. She was detained on Monday after ICE asked her to come to the San Francisco office to turn in paperwork. On Tuesday she was taken to a detention center in Bakersfield.
“She’s not a criminal. And she’s not only my grandma. She is everyone’s grandma,” Sukhdeep Kaur said. “Everyone looks up to her as a mother figure … she is independent, selfless, hard-working.”
Harjit Kaur, an East Bay resident for more than 30 years and a grandmother of five, is being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Bakersfield. She is 73. Courtesy of the family
She said her grandmother is the epitome of the American dream. She came to the United States in 1992 from India as a single mother with two sons to help pave a way for their future. Harjit Kaur has two grandsons and three granddaughters.
Harjit Kaur’s asylum case was denied in 2012, but since then she has “faithfully reported” to ICE in San Francisco every six months for more than 13 years, Manji Kaur, her daughter-in-law, told Richmondside in an interview earlier Friday.
She also said that Harjit Kaur had never refused to return to India and had repeatedly sought travel documents from the Indian Consulate but was turned down. ICE assured her she could remain in the United States under supervision with work permits until they could receive the travel documents.
“ICE has been trying for the past 13 years to get her a travel document. If ICE can’t get it in 13 years, how are we supposed to get it?” Manji Kaur said.
She added that prior to this detainment, there have been no issues, and her mother-in-law has followed every rule.
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“Our fears, I hope they don’t come true. I’m praying that she’s OK in there. She’s everything to me.”
— Manji Kaur, on the ICE detention of her mother-in-law
“She’s eligible (and) always applied for a work permit … She pays taxes every year,” Manji Kaur told Richmondside. “She’s going by the book. She doesn’t even have a, from my knowledge, and I would know, any violations for driving or anything like that.”
Her family worries that being detained at her age with serious health issues such as thyroid disease, migraines, knee pain, and anxiety, detention is putting her life at risk. Manji Kaur added that her mother-in-law does not have access to her medications.
When she talked to her by phone on Thursday she could hear the anxiety and pain in her voice.
“Our fears, I hope they don’t come true. I’m praying that she’s OK in there,” Manji Kaur said. “She’s everything to me…We just lost one mom (my mom) a few years back, and we can’t afford to lose another one.”
The protest was organized by Kaur’s family, Indivisible West Contra Costa County and the Sikh Center. Members of U.S. Rep. John Garamendi’s staff, local elected officials and other political leaders also attended.
Hercules City Council member Dilli Bhattarai said he is exploring how his city can pressure the federal government to release Kaur.
“She is not doing any harm to the community. She is an abiding (consitutent) just like us,” Bhattarai told Richmondside. “She has all the rights to be here as a community member and we should all support her immediate release.”
He said Hercules is already a sanctuary city, so there is not much his office can do aside from contacting officials at the federal level. Harjit Kaur’s family has urged the community to do the same.
At the two-hour long protest, hundreds of cars passed through the busy intersection honking their horns in support. At the end, Manji Kaur asked attendees to come to the same spot every Friday to not only demand the release of Harjit Kaur, but of all those wrongfully detained by ICE.
“Other communities have come by and stood with us today,” Manji Kaur said. “We don’t want to forget them.”
