A 53-year-old Indian-origin woman who has lived in the United States for more than three decades is challenging her detention by U.S. immigration authorities after being arrested at a Texas airport while travelling for court work.
Meenu Batra, described as the only licensed Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu court interpreter in Texas, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 17 at Harlingen International Airport.
According to reports, Batra was en route to Milwaukee for an immigration court assignment when officers stopped her, placed her in handcuffs and later transferred her to a detention facility in Raymondville, Texas.
Her detention has now become the subject of a habeas corpus petition questioning the legality of her custody. In legal filings, Batra alleges she was held for 24 hours without food or water and was denied access to medication. She also claims she was photographed with her hands behind her back in a manner she says was intended to portray her as a criminal.
Speaking publicly from detention, Batra described the experience as surreal and deeply humiliating. She said she fears being deported to a country she no longer knows.
Her case carries a particularly emotional dimension. Reports state that she came to the United States in 1991 after losing her parents in the anti-Sikh violence of 1984. Since then, she has built her life in South Texas, raised four children and worked extensively within the legal system as an interpreter assisting hundreds of people in immigration court.
Her son recently enlisted in the United States Army.
Batra’s lawyer says an immigration court granted her “withholding of removal” to India in 2000, meaning she could not be returned there unless the government formally reopened her case and proved conditions had changed. He now says concern is growing that authorities could seek to remove her to a third country instead.
The case unfolds amid heightened debate over immigration enforcement and deportation policy in the United States. Advocates argue that long-term residents with family ties and established community roles deserve greater procedural clarity and humane treatment. Supporters of tougher enforcement say immigration orders must still be carried out within the law.
For many observers, Batra’s case highlights the human complexity behind immigration systems: a longtime resident, a working professional, a mother and community interpreter now caught in a legal battle over where she belongs.
Her petition is expected to test not only the facts of her detention, but broader questions about due process, fairness and how immigration power is exercised against people who have spent most of their lives in America.