A Texas immigration court interpreter who has spent years helping South Asian migrants navigate the U.S. legal system is now fighting her own detention inside an ICE facility in South Texas, according to court records.
Meenu Batra, 53, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 17 after passing through security at Harlingen International Airport while traveling to Wisconsin for work, the Texas Observer reported. Batra has lived in the United States for 35 years and, according to that report, has worked for more than two decades as the only licensed Texas legal interpreter for Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. Her professional directory listing independently confirms that she holds a Texas master-level court interpreter license in those languages.
Batra is now being held at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, the same facility where she previously worked as an interpreter, according to the Observer. Public court trackers also show that a habeas corpus case, Batra v. Venegas, was filed in the Southern District of Texas on March 26, underscoring that her detention is now the subject of federal litigation.
In a sworn account described by the Observer, Batra said the agents who detained her were not in uniform and did not display visible badges. Her attorneys argue she had long operated under legal protection known as withholding of removal, a status that prevents deportation to a country where a person's life or freedom would be threatened, though it does not erase a final removal order. Federal immigration guidance reflects that withholding of removal can block deportation to a specific country even when a removal order remains in place.
The case has drawn additional attention because Batra's son serves in the U.S. military and filed a military-family parole request on her behalf. USCIS says immigration authorities can consider discretionary parole or deferred action for certain military members, enlistees, and their families on a case-by-case basis.
One of the most explosive allegations in the case is that detention center staff recognized Batra and that agents took photos with her while she was handcuffed, allegedly for "social media." That claim, however, should be treated as an allegation from her legal filing and lawyers unless DHS confirms it. A DHS spokesperson, according to a summary visible in web results, said Batra has a final order of removal, while the Observer reported DHS has until April 21 to respond to her habeas petition.
The case now stands as a stark test of due process in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, especially for immigrants who have lived for decades under lawful work authorization while helping others navigate the same system that has now turned on them.
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