(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . ICE attacks on long-term immigrants continues [1] ['View Profile'] Date: 2026-04-18 Reading through Bluesky Saturday evening, I saw two disturbing posts about the Trump Administration’s continued attack on longterm residents in the United States. The first is the story of Meenu Batra, the second story is about Oucho and Lai Chiem Saelee. Meenu Batra, 53, has lived in the South Texas border colonia of Laguna Heights since 2002. Her story, as reported in the Texas Observer was posted on Bluesky by Rachel Maddow. https://www.texasobserver.org/immigration-court-interpreter-arrested-ice-south-texas-airport/ "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…""One of her children recently enlisted in the military…www.texasobserver.org/immigration-… — Rachel Maddow (@maddow.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T19:51:45.839Z The Texas Observer link is live and the Observer is not behind a paywall. For full information, please read the article in the Observer. The following are several of the paragraphs from the article giving Ms. Batra’s story. She is not doing well and is having health problems “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.” “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.” “Batra’s attorneys say the agents were targeting her. “This is someone who maybe had one speeding ticket in the last 30 years and [is] being treated like a notorious criminal,” Deepak Ahluwalia, a California and Texas-based immigration attorney representing Batra, told the Observer. “ After placing her in handcuffs, she said, two of those four agents at the airport drove Batra to ICE’s field office in Harlingen in an unmarked van. She had been there many times over the years to renew her work permit and to help attorneys with translation. Office staff recognized her as she was being processed. Agents posed for photos with her handcuffed, which they said was for “social media,” according to the habeas filing.” While specifically saying this, I suspect the reason that ICE went after Ms. Batra was in this paragraph. She stopped working for the government and started helping only immigrants. “Batra, who has spent nearly half her life working in immigration courts, stopped working for the government’s side in immigration proceedings—instead helping only the immigrants seeking status—after seeing the conditions in detention facilities and how detained people were treated. Now, on the other side herself, she’s seeing people at the Raymondville facility who don’t speak English or Spanish, who are without the same knowledge and connections she has after so many years of helping people like them through the same system.” Less information in this less Bluesky post, but again ICE is targeting immigrants for some really minor items. Certainly not the worst people. UPDATE: The Trump administration is deporting "nonviolent medically impaired grandparents" to Laos over a 33-year-old drug conviction, a decision Judge Tana Lin says is "inhumane" and "cruel" — but says she is powerless to stop. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us… — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T23:15:52.090Z Trump Administration is deporting the grandparents to Laos over a 33-year old drug conviction. The summary below is from the legal documents provided in the post (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.359464/gov.uscourts.wawd.359464.9.0.pdf). Oucho and Lai are being deported to Laos, a country Petitioners fled as teenage refugees. This decision is despite the government allowing them to remain and build their lives in the United States as upstanding members of their community for 25 years while their removal orders could not be enforced. Petitioners are formerly married stateless refugees from Laos, both born in 1961. In 1975, the Communist group Pathet Lao took over Laos, posing a threat to Oucho and Lai. During the “Secret War, the United States recruited ethnic minorities in Laos to fight alongside the United States against the Pathet Lao. Soldiers of Pathet Lao began targeting villages and ethnic minorities like Petitioners’ families, leaving such families no choice but to hide and flee from Laos. Oucho and Lai took refuge in the Bannanyo refugee camp in Thailand, where they met and got married. They immigrated to the United States, settling in Kansas and becoming lawful permanent residents shortly after their arrival. They eventually had four children. Despite working long days at various jobs, they struggled to support their family. As such, a member of their community convinced them to engage in a drug importation scheme. In 1992, they were arrested, and on January 27, 1993, they were convicted of several non-violent opium-related offenses in this District and were each sentenced to the mandatory minimum of ten years. As a result of Petitioners’ convictions from 1993, an immigration judge ordered them removed from the United States— Lai’s removal order became final on September 23, 1994, and Oucho’s became final on April 27, 2000. After Petitioners’ prison sentences were completed, they were held in immigration detention. However, because there was no repatriation agreement between Laos and the United States, they could not be removed, and they were released on orders of supervision. Since their release in 2001, Petitioners have fully complied with their release conditions and have not committed any crimes. Sadly, while the Judge notes “in what many would see as an inhumane decision, [government] feel the need to remove [Oucho] and [Lai] to a country Petitioners do not call home and where they will be at risk of serious mistreatment”, she notes that “Due to Congress’s jurisdiction-stripping provision, this Court’s hands are tied, and it has no choice but to stand by while this occurs.“ [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/18/800023113/community/ice-attacks-on-long-term-immigrants-continues/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/