Fed Ice, Denied Meds, Slept on Floor: Punjab Grandma Deported After 30 Years in US

A 73-year-old grandmother who spent three decades in the US -- working, paying taxes, and never missing an immigration check -- was deported in a manner she calls cruel. Harjit Kaur says she was denied

her medication during the flight and once given only a plate of ice while in detention. “After living there so long, to be suddenly detained and deported like this, it’s better to die than face this,” she told TOI, her voice breaking. Pointing to her swollen feet, she added, "Look at my feet, they are swollen like cow dung cakes. I neither got medicine nor am I able to walk."Kaur arrived in New Delhi on Thursday afternoon and shared her ordeal with TOI while travelling to her sister’s home in Mohali. A native of Pangota village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, she had moved to the US with her two sons about 33 years ago, following the death of her husband, Sukhwinder Singh. Kaur had been living in the San Francisco Bay Area and worked at a clothing store in Berkeley until January, when knee surgery complications forced her to stop. She was taken into custody on September 8 during a routine immigration check-in.Kaur's lawyer Deepak Ahluwalia, in an instagram video, said, "She was not given a bed and had to share a holding room. There was a concrete bench. She was made to sleep on the floor with a blanket. She was unable to get up when she would lie down because she had double knee replacement surgery.""She would ask for food so she could take her medicines. Those requests were ignored. Not that she wasn't fed at all. She was given a cheese sandwich. When she asked again to have something or even water to take her medication, she was given a plate of ice. She explained she had dentures and could not eat them. The guard told her — ‘that's your fault'" Ahluwalia added. Notably, deportations of Indian nationals from the United States have sharply risen since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. According to data from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), 1,703 Indians have been deported in just six and a half months this year -- roughly eight every day, compared to an average of three per day between January 2020 and December 2024.This spike accounts for nearly a quarter of all deportations of Indians recorded over the last five and a half years, which total 7,244. The increase coincides with a renewed, aggressive enforcement push under the Trump administration.On June 26, the US State Department issued a warning to visa holders, stating, “We continuously check visa holders to ensure they follow all US laws and immigration rules — and we will revoke their visas and deport them if they don’t.”In August, the US government also issued a blunt message targeting illegal immigrants, "The US has increased enforcement of immigration laws and removal of illegal aliens. Illegal entry will lead to detention, deportation and permanent consequences for future visa eligibility… Embarking on a costly and dangerous journey will land you in jail or back in your homeland with a permanent mark on your record.”