Overview
- Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old court interpreter, was detained by ICE at Harlingen’s airport on March 17 while traveling for work and remains at the El Valle Detention Facility in Texas.
- Justice Department lawyers have asked a federal judge to dismiss Batra’s habeas petition, saying she is lawfully held under a final removal order issued in 2000.
- The Homeland Security Department says she will stay in custody pending removal, while her earlier grant of withholding of removal bars return to India but does not erase the removal order or create a path to citizenship.
- Batra and her lawyers allege agents handcuffed her, made her pose for a photo, and held her for hours without food, water, or timely medication, and she describes poor conditions inside the facility.
- Her family and supporters are pushing for release as her son seeks military parole-in-place, and the case unfolds alongside court fights over third-country deportations and a rise in Texas habeas rulings ordering release or bond hearings.