Meenu Batra, a longtime Texas court interpreter being held in a federal detention facility after being detained by federal immigration officers, called the experience “degrading.”
Batra, who has lived in the U.S. for about 35 years and has a “withholding of removal” order that prevents her from being deported to her home country of India due to fear of persecution, was detained by authorities on March 17 at Valley International Airport while on her way to Milwaukee for a work trip. She is currently being held at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas
Batra, a single mother of four adult U.S. citizens, has been a certified court interpreter for more than 20 years. Her language skills in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu have led her to travel frequently, said her attorney, Deepak Ahluwalia.
According to Batra’s sworn affidavit, she was questioned at the TSA checkpoint, where an ICE officer stopped her and asked, “Do you know that you are here illegally?” to which she responded, “No.” Batra said she told the officer she had been granted withholding of removal and had a valid work authorization, to which he responded, “That doesn’t mean you can be here forever.” Batra was then handcuffed and put into an unmarked white SUV.
Batra said she was taken to an ICE field office she recognized as the one where she had previously gone to renew her work authorization. Officers then made her pose for a photo with two officers for “social media,” which she said made her feel “humiliated and treated like a criminal.”
Batra described her arrest as a “sinking feeling,” and said her detainment felt like “the longest month of her life.”
According to her attorney, Batra was born in India and fled to the U.S. when she was a teenager, after her parents were killed during the state-sponsored anti-Sikh pogroms of the 1980s. She applied for asylum when she arrived. In 2000, an immigration judge in New Jersey granted her withholding of removal status, which is granted to individuals who can prove it’s more likely than not that they will face persecution if they are returned to their home country.
According to the American Immigration Council and National Immigrant Justice Center, a person who is granted withholding of removal is “protected from being returned to his or her home country and receives the right to remain in the United States and work legally.” However, that person “cannot petition to bring family members to the United States and does not gain a path to citizenship.”
According to Batra’s habeas corpus petition, “at no point during the past twenty-five years did ICE attempt to remove Ms. Batra, ask her to help obtain travel documents, or tell her that removal to India or any other country was being actively pursued. She was never required to report to ICE on a regular basis. When she visited ICE offices, it was only for administrative matters related to work authorization.”
The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss Batra’s habeas corpus petition, arguing that Batra has been “lawfully detained” and subject to a “final order of removal.” The attorneys in the filing do not mention if the government intends to deport Batra to a third country — countries other than her own that are willing to accept her.
Texas Representative Joaquin Castro has criticized Batra’s detention, writing on X, “Meenu Batra is the only Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu court interpreter in Texas. She had spent most of her life in Texas, working and raising her kids. ICE detained her despite having humanitarian protection. Trump’s mass deportation campaign isn’t going after the worst of the worst. It’s targeting contributing members of our communities and breaking apart families.”
ABC News (4/24/26) By Juhi Doshi