Longtime Immigration Court Interpreter Arrested by ICE at South #Texas Airport

The state’s only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a #Raymondville #DetentionCenter. She’s lived in America for 35 years.

by Gaige Davila
April 15, 2026, 8:54 AM, CDT

"Last month, Meenu Batra, 53, who has lived in the South Texas border colonia of Laguna Heights since 2002, was on her way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to work another case. She’s been a court interpreter for over 20 years, the only one licensed in Texas for Hindi, Punjabi, or Urdu. Her language skills are requested nationwide, where she’s contracted to help people making their way through the immigration court system, just as she did for herself 35 years ago when she immigrated from India to New Jersey before settling in Texas.

"She planned to meet with her adult children in Austin after the Wisconsin trip, the only difference she foresaw in an otherwise typical trip. Her routine for years included flying from either Harlingen or Brownsville to far-flung parts of the country where South Asian immigrants needed language access. For this trip, the flight was out of Harlingen.

"But, around 5 p.m. on March 17, Batra was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) agents after passing through security at Harlingen International Airport. In a sworn deposition that was filed as part of a petition for habeas corpus—a legal request to be released on the grounds that the detention is unlawful—Batra said the people who arrested her did not have visible badges nor were they wearing uniforms. One of those agents had asked Batra if she knew she was in the country illegally and that she had a deportation order. 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.

" 'That doesn’t mean you can be here forever,' the agent replied. Two more plainclothes agents would join the two that detained her, bringing her down the escalator and to the front of the airport."

Read more:
https://www.texasobserver.org/immigration-court-interpreter-arrested-ice-south-texas-airport/

#USPol #HumanRightsViolations #Disappeared #Orwellian #ICESucks

What’s happening at Dilley Detention Center in Texas is state-sanctioned child abuse. Let’s call it what it is. We need to shut down Dilley and end family detention. #Usa

#dilley #immigration #detentioncenter #congress Follow @RepSaraJacobs for more.

Help this information get to more voters. 🇺🇸 A well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to Democracy.—Thomas Jefferson https://instagr.am/p/DW-TIy2BRpB/

SHUTDOWN IMPAIRS IMMIGRANT FAMILY ACCESS TO CRITICAL DETENTION OVERSIGHT

How the DHS shutdown since January 2024 affects immigrant families' access to detention oversight. Find out what happens next.

#DHSshutdown, #ImmigrantFamilies, #DetentionCenter, #Oversight, #ImmigrationNews

https://newsletter.tf/dhs-shutdown-stops-immigrant-family-detention-oversight/

Immigrant families can no longer easily check on loved ones in detention centers due to the DHS shutdown. This is a major change from before.

#DHSshutdown, #ImmigrantFamilies, #DetentionCenter, #Oversight, #ImmigrationNews
https://newsletter.tf/dhs-shutdown-stops-immigrant-family-detention-oversight/

State of #Michigan and the city of #Romulus file lawsuit against #DHS to halt planned #ICE #DetentionCenter 

https://michiganadvance.com/2026/03/24/nessel-romulus-file-lawsuit-against-dhs-to-halt-planned-ice-detention-center/

From VSN Newsroom It’s a prison for little children #duet #detention #dilley #detentioncenter #grift #prison #abuse

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bFh3OxzC9DQ

#news #left #resist #resistance #vsn #DiverseSpectrumOfTheLeft #SupportIndependentMedia

Why Is Asheville’s Buncombe County Jail Full of People?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2026/03/08/whyisashevillesbcdcjailfullofpeople/

#LAFires Could Transform Former #Rocketdyne Site into #FEMATrailerPark

January 2025

"#Radiation and chemical vapors on 47-acre #CanogaPark site are too toxic for housing, but could be mitigated to safely house residents displaced by January 2025 fires in above-ground trailers.

- Gross site contamination and development encumbrances prohibit residential housing
- Hundreds of #FEMATrailers, mobile homes and even shipping containers could be placed on site safely and temporarily house thousands of #LosAngeles disaster victims [Or maybe a potential #DetentionCenter? Hmmmm...]
- Efforts to clean up polluted west Valley groundwater could emulate 2024 agreement to remediate fouled east Valley aquifer and provide billions of gallons of clean water

"The former Rocketdyne Canoga Park facility in the western #SanFernandoValley is so contaminated that it is nearly impossible to build anything on it other than light industry even though a developer wanted to construct homes on the site.

"#Chemicals and #radiation severely contaminate the land and #groundwater in and around the site according to documentation obtained by EnviroReporter.com.

"According to astonishing information never before covered in the media, areas offsite and around #RocketdyneCanoga are hot with high amounts of gross alpha and uranium radiation."

Read more:
https://www.enviroreporter.com/2025/01/la-fires-could-transform-former-rocketdyne-site-into-fema-trailer-park/

#USPol #RadioactiveHazards #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #UraniumContamination