Respond Crisis Translation

Language workers, translators and interpreters are at the center of resistance and liberation movements. Yet language workers are invisibilized, silenced, overlooked, even disappeared. 🆘

In solidarity with workers around the world, we amplify the resistance, mobilization, and tireless work of our translators and interpreters, whose work gives a voice to those most marginalized and silenced. ✊

„[The uncertainty] is the worst part. Every single day, you can’t sleep because you’re afraid when you go to bed, where are you going to wake up?“
- Meenu Batra on CBS News

Meenu Batra, 53, has lived in the U.S. for over 35 years, having fled anti-Sikh violence in India. For more than 20 years, she worked as a court interpreter in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu — the only licensed interpreter in Texas for all three languages — supporting people through immigration court proceedings.

However, on March 17, 2026, she was stopped by plainclothes ICE agents at Harlingen International Airport while traveling for work. Despite having valid work authorization under “withholding of removal”, she was handcuffed and taken into custody.

She has since been held detained in Texas, where she reports being denied food, water, and medication following her arrest. Her attorney says the government has not explained her detention or where she may be sent, raising concerns about her being removed to a third country.

Batra spent decades helping others navigate the immigration system. Now she is inside it, facing the same conditions of uncertainty and deprivation.

Her case sits within the broader expansion of Trump’s mass deportation agenda, which continues to target people with deep community ties and long-term presence in the U.S. This is not an isolated case — it is a system at work.

We stand in solidarity with Meenu Batra, her family, all our partner organizations and all those incarcerated by the U.S. regime. We demand her release! We remain steadfast in our fight against ICE!