Indian green card holder detained for 30 days in US for ‘very old case’

An Indian man who migrated to the United States 30 years ago and is now a green card holder, Paramjit Singh, was detained over a month ago in Chicago on 30 July upon his return from his visit to India, said his lawyer .

Paramjit Singh was detained over a month ago in Chicago on 30 July upon his return from his visit to India.

Paramjit Singh reportedly has a business in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and also suffers from a brain tumour and a heart condition.

While returning from India, a trip Singh’s family said he makes several times a year, he was detained at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on July 30, reported local news outlet WPTA.

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Why was Paramjit Singh detained?

Paramjit Singh’s lawyer, Luis Angeles, said that according to the department of homeland security, he was detained due to a “very old case”.

“According to ICE, according to (the Department of Homeland Security), the reason he was detained is due to a very old case he had…A case that was reduced, and should not have led to his being detained,” the WPTA reported, citing Angeles as saying.

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Angeles said that Singh was detained over an incident when he used a pay phone without paying for it, which, according to him, is a “minor infraction for which he has already taken full accountability, served his time, and paid his debt to society,” reported Newsweek.

Singh was reportedly kept at the airport for five days, following which, his health deteriorated due to his medical condition and he had to be taken to the emergency room. The family only got to know about this after they received a bill for his ER stay, WPTA reported.

“They didn’t even tell us that that happened until we got the bill at home,” Paramjit’s son Gurkirat Singh said.

‘DHS using unethical tactics to prolong detention’

Angeles said that a court had declared Singh eligible for bond and granted him one, however, the department of homeland security is using “arguable unethical” tactics.

“We filed for a bond redetermination and successfully won the bond hearing. However, DHS has continued to employ what I would describe as legal—yet arguably unethical—tactics to prolong his detention, despite being fully aware of his severe medical condition, which requires emergency surgery. The government is holding him without justifiable cause, exacerbating his health risks and causing immense distress to his family,” Newsweek quoted Angeles as saying.

Next step, Angeles says, is to approach a federal court.

“We believe that he has a strong case for a federal judge to decide what DHS has done is not correct, and he should be released immediately,” he said, according to WPTA report.