Rep. John Garamendi made headlines by reserving—and leaving empty—his State of the Union guest chair for Harjeet Kaur, a 73-year-old Indian American deported under controversial circumstances. The symbolic protest lambasts immigration practices’ human impact.
Kaur’s US life spanned early 1990s onward; post-2012 asylum rejection, 13 years of punctual ICE check-ins in San Francisco. Garamendi: ‘Dedicated to grandmother Harjeet Kaur, midnight-deported to India. This seat mourns her and Trump’s policy casualties—jailed, muted, dead—revealing enforcement’s toll.’
Timeline of terror: Sept. 8, 2025 custody at Bakersfield post-check-in, Mesa Verde shift. 2 a.m. Sept. 19: Shackled LA-Georgia relay, undisclosed to lawyers/family, charter ejection to India. 24-hour blackout foiled kin’s flight plans.
‘Not the criminals Trump targeted—this law-abiding 73-year-old,’ Garamendi decried, noting mass family traumas. Abuses: furniture-less hours, floor naps, travel chains, Sikh-vegan meal denials, hygiene limits, delayed thyroid/migraine/knee meds, no medics despite begs. Ice-for-food post-famine; water scarcity.
India-based now, Kaur’s health teeters without US relatives’ help. As immigration divides America—India heavily affected—Garamendi urges empathy-driven change. His empty seat transcends theater, galvanizing debate on balancing security with dignity. Stories like Kaur’s demand scrutiny: Is ruthlessness reform’s path, or humanity’s?