53-year-old Meenu Batra, an Indian-origin woman who had been living in the US for the last 35 years was detained by ICE agents in Texas who asked her whether she knew that she had a deportation order and that she was in the country illegally. Texas Observer reported that Batra is Texas's only licensed Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu legal interpreter and she's often contracted to help South Asian people through the immigration court system. On March 17, she was detained by the ICE as she was passing through security at Harlingen International Airport as she was on her way to Wisconsin for a case.
In her statement, Batra said those who arrested her did not have any visible badges and were not wearing uniforms. One of the agents asked her whether she knew she was an illegal. She replied that her work authorization status, which she applied for regularly after being granted a legal status called withholding of removal by a New Jersey immigration judge decades ago, was good for another four years.
