"That's when agents told her she was being arrested."
An Indian woman was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on December 1 during a routine biometric scan for her pending Green Card application.
Babblejit “Bubbly” Kaur’s detention shocked relatives and community members in Long Beach, where she has lived for more than 30 years.
She has been in the United States since 1994 and has no criminal record.
According to her daughter, Joti Kaur, the appointment was expected to be the final administrative step in her adjustment of status to permanent residency.
Kaur’s Green Card petition had already been approved through sponsorship by her US citizen daughter and son-in-law.
Joti said her mother was detained shortly after being called into an interview room.
She said: “Several federal agents got out and went to a back room. My mother was then called into that same room. That’s when agents told her she was being arrested.”
Claiming that her mother was placed in a van full of men, with her hands and feet shackled, Joti added:
“She was really scared. We have heard stories of people who just go completely missing, so we were nervous that something like that could happen.”
For several hours, the family did not know where Kaur had been taken, with officials providing limited information.
They later located her using the ICE detainee locator system, first tracing her to Los Angeles before she was transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Centre near Victorville.
At the facility, Joti said her mother was held in a room with more than two dozen other detainees.
Calling it “a nightmare”, Joti said the family has since been able to speak to and visit Kaur but the detention has taken a toll.
Describing the conditions her mother is facing, Joti said:
“She is not sleeping well because the lights are not turned off at night, and there is a constant stream of noise.
“There is always someone screaming or wailing.”
Originally from India, Bubbly Kaur and her family settled in California in the mid-1990s.
She and her husband ran their Belmont Shore restaurant for more than 20 years before it closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They have three children, including two US citizens, while Joti holds legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme.
No official explanation has been provided by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security for Kaur’s detention.
People close to the family believe it may be linked to historical immigration status issues that sometimes emerge in long-term cases.
Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia said he is in contact with the family and strongly criticised the detention:
“We are going to do everything we can to bring her home. These horrific actions continue to terrorise hardworking and good people who are trying to make our community a better place.”
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