Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh grandmother who had lived legally in the East Bay for over 30 years with no criminal record, was detained by ICE on September 8, 2025, after being asked to turn in paperwork at the San Francisco office during a routine check-in. Kaur had lived in Hercules, worked for two decades at Sari Palace in Berkeley, and regularly attended the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara; she has two grandsons and three granddaughters. Family members and roughly 200 community members held a protest at the El Sobrante Gurdwara demanding her release, with her daughter-in-law Manji Kaur calling the situation 'a total nightmare.' During her 15-day detention at facilities in Bakersfield and Georgia, Kaur reported being denied basic hygiene supplies, vegetarian meals consistent with her faith, and water for her medication, and was forced to sleep on cell floors. Despite her attorney's requests for release with monitoring or accompaniment on a commercial flight due to her age and medical conditions, Kaur was deported to India on September 22 without advance notice to her family and without being allowed to return home or say goodbye.