Inserts:

00:03 Report / Ramisha Ali
00:06 Meenu Batra / Interpreter detained by ICE
01:17 Deepak Ahluwalia / Meenu’s immigration lawyer
01:51 Ramisha Ali / DW Reporter
02:36 Kalpana Peddibhotla / South Asian American Justice Collaborative
03:24 Meenu Batra / Interpreter detained by ICE

Script:

She spent decades helping immigrants. Then ICE picked her up.

+++ SOT Meenu Batra, Interpreter detained by ICE +++
“When they detained me, they didn't look at my ID. They didn't even ask for my documents. I offered it to them, they would not." +++

Meenu Batra had lived in the United States for decades. She worked as a court interpreter in the Texas immigration system. 
Then, during a routine work trip, everything changed.
She was stopped at an airport.

And detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She is a mother of four U.S. citizens.
One of them serves in the U.S. Army.

+++ SOT Meenu Batra, Interpreter detained by ICE +++
“Everybody had to hold on to their own plans and projects and life. And just come here and figure out what to do, how to help mom...And that was very, very painful.” +++

Meenu came to the US as a refugee in 1991, after her parents were killed in anti-Sikh violence in India.

Years later, a judge allowed her to live and work in the country.
In 2000, she was granted what’s called ‘withholding of removal’- meaning she could not be deported to India and was allowed to stay the US.
But authorities now acted on an old deportation order.

Her lawyer says she tried to explain her legal status. It did not matter.

+++ SOT Deepak Ahluwalia, Meenu’s immigration lawyer +++
“Basically, surrounded her at the security check point, as if they were taking down a big cartel member. And that's where they, in the file folder, basically, they opened the file folder once she got in the vehicle, but they basically asked her, are you Minu Batra? And when she said yes, in the affirmative, they basically said, you have an order of removal. And w hen she said, ‘No, I got a grant from a judge. I have permission to live and work here,’ they said, ‘No, that doesn't mean you have permission to live here forever.’ They literally took her and basically placed her in an unmarked vehicle.”+++
 
She was taken into detention anyway.
RAMISHA O/C PTC— OUTSIDE EL VALLE DETENTION FACILITY 
 
We’re outside El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, where Meenu was held after her arrest. It's about 80 kilometers from the US-Mexico border and around 40 kilometers from the airport where she was arrested. 
 
It sits in a remote part of South Texas — far from the family and community she knew. 
 
Meenu’s case highlights a different reality of immigration enforcement — ICE is now targeting South Asians at much higher rates. 

Her case is not the only one.
Immigration enforcement in the US often focuses on Latino communities.
But cases like Meenu’s are changing that.

Arrests of Asian immigrants by ICE have almost tripled, rising from under 700 in 2024 to nearly 2,000 in 2025. 
 
Indian nationals are now the second-largest group affected after Chinese nationals.

+++ SOT Kalpana Peddibhotla, Executive director, South Asian American Justice Collaborative +++
“There are green card holders that are of those same fears. You have H-1B visa workers, international students. We've heard from such a wide range of people who are also legally in the United States. So, it's not just the undocumented populations that are walking around with concerns and fears about their right to pursue remedies here to remain, but it's the documented populations as well”+++

Advocates say this is changing how people see immigration enforcement in the US.
It is not only undocumented migrants.
Even people with legal status are being caught up.
In a statement, ICE told DW:
“Illegal aliens who receive these type of orders can still be detained and removed to a third country....”

Meenu says many in her community stay silent about cases like hers.

+++SOT Meenu Batra, Interpreter detained by ICE +++
“Because you know how our community is very good at sweeping things under the rug... But I know that I am not the only one ...I might be the only one who's talking about it... Perhaps I'm providing safe space for people to come out and reach out.” +++

Her story is a warning.
Immigration enforcement is not just someone else’s issue anymore.