![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/harjitcrop-1-1600x1058.jpg\")
Harjit Kaur, 73, of Hercules was deported to India in September after what she described as harrowing conditions during her 15-day detainment by ICE. Courtesy of the Kaur family<\/p>\nHarjit Kaur, 73, of Hercules was deported to India in September after what she described as harrowing conditions during her 15-day detainment by ICE. Courtesy of the Kaur family<\/p>\n
State of the Union viewers won\u2019t see U.S. Rep. John Garamendi at Tuesday night\u2019s presidential address. The Congressman, whose 8th District includes Richmond and other parts of the Bay Area, said he\u2019s leaving his seat empty in honor of a 73-year-old East Bay resident who was deported last year.<\/p>\n
Harjit Kaur<\/a>, who worked at a Sari Palace in Berkeley and had ties to El Sobrante and Hercules, had no criminal record. She was detained in September during a routine document appointment in San Francisco and, her family said, was held in an ICE facility without a bed or chair and no access to her medication, food or water.<\/p>\n In a press release<\/a>, Garamendi said:<\/p>\n I am dedicating my State of the Union guest seat to my former constituent, 73-year-old grandmother Harjit Kaur. She is unfortunately unable to attend because she was cruelly deported to India in the dead of night. This seat is for her and every person across the country that\u2019s been caged, detained, and killed at the hands of Trump\u2019s secret police force. Let her empty seat be a stark symbol of the human cost of Trump\u2019s cruel deportation agenda.<\/p>\n President Trump promised to go after the \u2018worst of the worst\u2019 in his immigration policy. Yet his administration\u2019s decision to cruelly deport a 73-year-old grandmother with no criminal record \u2014 who faithfully reported to ICE every six months for more than 13 years \u2014 is one more example of the thousands of individuals across the country whose lives and families have been upended by Trump\u2019s ICE.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this has become far too common under Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda. I dedicate this seat to Harjit, to her family, and to everyone affected by this rogue administration.<\/p>\n After being held in detention facilities for about 10 days, Kaur was transported in handcuffs from Bakersfield to Los Angeles at 2 a.m. on Sept. 19 and flown to Georgia without notice to her attorney or family, Garamendi said.<\/p>\n Then, although her family had arranged commercial travel and planned to accompany her to India, she was placed on a charter flight to India<\/a> and not given an opportunity to say goodbye.\u00a0<\/p>\n During Harjit\u2019s detention, Garamendi said, his offices contacted the Indian Embassy and Consulate regarding travel documents and pleaded her case to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, expressing concerns about broader conditions in ICE detention facilities nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following her return to India, she has remained in contact with her family but has continued to experience health issues without nearby relatives to assist her, Garamendi said.<\/p>\n What to expect from State of the Union address<\/p>\n President\u00a0Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0State of the Union address, set for Tuesday night at 6 p.m. PST, is\u00a0likely to be a test run<\/a>\u00a0of the message Republicans will give to voters in\u00a0November\u2019s elections<\/a>\u00a0for control of the House and the Senate.<\/p>\n The president and his party\u00a0appear vulnerable<\/a>, with polls showing much of America distrusts how Trump has managed the government in his first year back in office. In addition, the Supreme Court last week struck down one of the chief levers of his economic and\u00a0foreign policy<\/a>\u00a0by ruling he lacked the power to impose many of his sweeping tariffs.<\/p>\n Though Trump is expected to focus on domestic issues, his intensifying threats about launching military strikes on Iran over its nuclear program cast a shadow over\u00a0the address<\/a>.<\/p>\n Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will\u00a0give the Democratic Party response<\/a>\u00a0following Trump\u2019s speech. California Sen. Alex Padilla, who\u00a0made national headlines last year<\/a>\u00a0after being forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents, will deliver the party\u2019s response in Spanish.<\/p>\n Garamendi unlikely to be only Democrat absent <\/p>\n House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said there will be some members who sit in \u201csilent defiance,\u201d and others who choose not to attend Trump\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n \u201cSome are coming and some are not,\u201d Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.<\/p>\n Speaker Mike Johnson had criticized those boycotting, but Jeffries said it\u2019s each member\u2019s choice based on what makes the most sense for their constituents back home.<\/p>\n Jeffries said the Republicans, in the majority in Congress, are in no position to lecture because rather than operate as a separate and co-equal branch of government, they\u2019re a \u201creckless rubberstamp\u201d for Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johngaramendi_021826_ap-2-1.jpg\")
Rep. John Garamendi, whose district includes Richmond and other west Contra Costa cities, won\u2019t attend Pres. Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union address on Feb. 24. He\u2019s leaving his seat open to honor Kaur. Credit: Associated Press<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HarjitKaurICE_091225_jkadah-04.jpg\")
An estimated 200 people rallied in El Sobrante in September 2024 to call for the release of Harjit Kaur, a grandmother who was detained by ICE and later deported. The two youths (left) consider Kaur their grandmother as she worked at their family\u2019s business, Sari Palace in Berkeley, for more than 20 years. Credit: Jana Kadah\/Richmondside<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26054666570619.jpg\")
Security fencing is seen erected around the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington ahead of President Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union address Tuesday. Credit: AP\/Manuel Balce Ceneta<\/p>\n