Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old mother of four and longtime legal resident, has been released from ICE custody after 45 days. Batra was arrested on March 17 at a Texas airport while traveling for work.
Despite having lived in the U.S. for decades as a certified translator, she was held at the El Valle Detention Facility until a federal judge ordered her release last week stating she was detained for “no discernible reason.”
In an exclusive interview following her release, Batra expressed deep trauma regarding the current immigration climate warning that “no one is safe.”
Batra, who fled to the U.S. as a teenager after her parents were killed in India, described the psychological toll of detention, saying, “you become small. You start to believe that perhaps you are not equal, that you are not human.”
While the Department of Homeland Security labeled her an “illegal alien” with a prior removal order from 2000, her legal team argues her status was protected.
Batra, whose son recently joined the Army continues to fight for permanent citizenship, though she remains shaken.
Reflecting on the fear now felt by her family and others, she noted, “they forget that aliens are humans and humans have rights.”
