"Following a January memo from the Department of Homeland Security, expanding where officers can operate, federal immigration agents are more routinely showing up at formerly protected "sensitive locations" - hospitals, clinics, schools and places of worship."
"Suddenly, Sikhs around the country were thinking, "Hold on, if I go to the gurdwara every Sunday, but this time when I step out, is there a chance that I'm gonna get picked up by ICE?" And that led to a lot of fear among the community and gurdwaras were reporting a drop in attendance."
"In between prayer, congregants make their way to langar - the community kitchen where free meals are served throughout the day at the San José Gurdwara."
South Asians are rarely included in conversations about undocumented communities, yet 35,000 people from India were apprehended at the U.S. border this year, including many Punjabi Sikhs. Some arrive seeking political refuge, while others come on temporary visas and take low-wage jobs that increase vulnerability when immigration policy shifts. A January Department of Homeland Security memo expanded where officers can operate, and federal agents have more routinely shown up at formerly protected "sensitive locations" such as hospitals, clinics, schools and places of worship. Intensified enforcement and false rumors of gurdwara raids have fueled fear, led to drops in attendance, and heightened anxieties during already difficult migration experiences.
Read at Kqed
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