Kamal Ghorui
Meenu Batra speaks about her ICE detention after living in the US for 35 years.
In her first interview after being released from ICE detention for over six weeks, Indian-origin Texas woman Meenu Batra told CBS News exclusively that she is afraid that she could be arrested again. Batra had been living in the US since 1991 after she fled India following the killings of her parents in Punjab. In 2000, Batra was given a court protection that she could not be deported to her country of origin because of the fear of persecution and she was allowed to legally work in the US.A single mother of four, including an Army soldier, Batra has been working as a court interpreter as she knows Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi languages apart from English. As she was traveling to Wisconsin for work on March 17, she was detained by ICE agents at an airport in Texas. The Donald Trump 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 as a court questioned the legality of her detention.Speaking about her detention, Batra told CBS News that the hardest part was the dehumanization and the uncertainty. Replying to a question by Shanelle Kaul as to whether she is scared that she could be arrested again, Batra said she is very fearful that it may happen again. “I hate to admit it,” she said.”I went grocery shopping the other day. It was strange. This is my own town, my own people and yet I was constantly watching over my shoulder,” Batra said about life after her release.Batra’s attorney Deepak Ahluwalia earlier said that they were trying to get military parole in place for Barta and her son is in the US Army. If she gets it, they will be applying for her Green Card towards the end of this year.
