NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Sacramento, CA, February 21, 2026: In a symbolic gesture highlighting the human impact of U.S. immigration enforcement, Democratic Congressman John Garamendi left one of his guest seats empty during the State of the Union address to honor a 73-year-old Indian grandmother who was detained and deported by U.S. immigration authorities.
Garamendi said the vacant seat was dedicated to Harjit Kaur, a former constituent who was deported to India last year. By leaving the chair unoccupied, the California lawmaker sought to draw attention to her absence — and to what he described as the broader consequences of immigration enforcement policies on families and vulnerable individuals.
Members of Congress traditionally invite guests to the State of the Union to spotlight policy priorities or personal stories. An empty seat, while less common, serves as a visible form of protest — symbolizing someone who cannot be present and underscoring the issue the lawmaker wants to highlight.
Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh grandmother from India, had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than three decades before she was detained and deported by U.S. immigration authorities in 2025. She had come to the United States in the early 1990s as a single mother and built her life in Northern California, working for years as a seamstress and raising her family. Over time, she became a familiar and well-known figure in her local community, where supporters described her as a devoted grandmother with deep roots in the region.
Kaur’s immigration case had been unresolved for many years. Her asylum application was denied, and she had exhausted multiple legal appeals, leaving her subject to a long-standing removal order. Despite this, she continued to comply with immigration requirements, regularly reporting for scheduled check-ins with federal authorities for more than a decade while living with her family in the United States.
In September 2025, during what family members said was a routine check-in appointment, Kaur was taken into custody without advance warning. She was held in detention and later transferred between facilities before being deported to India. Her sudden detention shocked relatives and community members who had expected the long-standing reporting arrangement to continue.
Kaur and her attorney later described difficult conditions during her detention, including limited access to basic necessities and medical care. Advocacy groups and community organizations rallied around her case, organizing protests and public campaigns that drew attention to her age, long residence in the United States, and separation from her family.
Immigration authorities maintained that her deportation followed existing law, noting that her legal appeals had been exhausted and that the removal order had been in place for years. Even so, her case has become a powerful symbol in the national debate over immigration enforcement, particularly when it involves elderly individuals with long-established ties to American communities.
Garamendi has framed Kaur’s deportation as an example of how immigration enforcement can affect elderly immigrants and longtime community members.
