17 Sep Community Rallies for 73-Year-Old Grandmother’s Release From Detention Center

Demonstrators in El Sobrante on Friday called for the release of 73-year-old Harjit Kaur from immigration detention.

Story and photos by Denis Perez-Bravo

One of El Sobrante Gurdwara Sahib’s devoted members was missing from worship this week.

Harjit Kaur, 73, a beloved grandmother and longtime resident of the East Bay, is currently being held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield after what her family believed would be a routine immigration check-in in San Francisco on Sept. 8.

Instead of praying with her congregation, Kaur now sits in a detention cell, sparking a campaign, led by her family, to demand her release.

“Think of her as your own grandmother,” Manji Kaur, Harjit’s daughter-in-law, said to the gurdwara’s congregation Sunday.

 

Harjit Kaur’s family has launched a local movement under the rallying cry “Bring Grandma Home,” joined by allies including Indivisible West Contra Costa and members of the gurdwara. Harpreet Sandhu, a gurdwara member and senior staffer for Rep. John Garamendi, is also supporting the effort.

Community members were urged to join Indivisible’s weekly protest, held Fridays at the corner of Appian Way and San Pablo Dam Road in El Sobrante from 5 to 6 p.m.

Christine Mathias, a member of Indivisible West Contra Costa, spoke on behalf of their nonpartisan organization saying they are working to fight against an “authoritarian take over” of the U.S. government.

“There are a lot of things happening that are affecting our communities, specifically immigrant communities,” Mathias said.

 

According to Sandhu, the timing of Kaur’s detention was particularly striking. Indivisible members had visited the gurdwara as an outreach effort to build an organized coalition.

“Timing was everything,” he said.

The next day, Harjit’s granddaughter Sukhmeet Sandhu took her to San Francisco for a check-in with ICE.

These visits into were routine and part of a long-standing compliance with immigration authorities.

Years ago, Kaur was asked for travel documents after getting an order for deportation.

Under ICE guidance, they went to the Indian embassy where Harjit’s request for the documents was rejected.

“The Indian embassy did not provide us with any travel documents,” Sukhmeet said.

They went back to the ICE offices to let them know. Harjit was allowed to stay in the U.S., given a work-permit and told to continue to attend biannual check-ins.

A single mother of two sons, Harjit had done so for 13 years as she had continued to request travel documents from the Indian embassy to move her case along, Sukhmeet Sandhu said.

Harjit is an East Bay resident of over 30 years. She lives in Hercules but has worked at Sari Place in Berkeley for two decades.

Despite her cooperation, Kaur was detained last week with no warning.

“She’s a 73-year-old elderly woman who does not belong in detention,” Sukhmeet said. “She is no threat to this society, no threat to this country. She can barely walk by herself.”

 

Harjit is willing to self-deport and her family is urging her release on that basis, her granddaughter said.

Her son and daughter-in-law, Manji, gravely worry about their mother’s debilitating health.

The first time after her arrest, when they talked to Harjit, she cried and begged for help, Manji Kaur said.

The family has only been able to speak with her briefly and inconsistently since her detention. They say her absence has devastated them.

“I lost one mother. I can not lose another,” Manji said at the Sept. 12 rally in El Sobrante.

“She is not getting medication.”

The community can help, she said, by sharing as much as they can online in social media pages and calling their congressional representatives and senators to urge them to get involved further.

“A 73-year-old should be retiring, not sitting in a detention center,” Manji said.