San Jose — Intensified ICE enforcement across California has left the Sikh community gripped by fear and uncertainty, with many questioning whether even their sacred places of worship remain safe.
Since Trump took office in January 2025, immigration authorities have dramatically expanded operations into previously protected spaces like gurdwaras, hospitals, and schools, leaving tens of thousands of Punjabi Sikh immigrants vulnerable and isolated.
Key Facts
• 35,000 people from India were apprehended at the U.S. border this year, with many being Punjabi Sikhs seeking refuge or arriving on temporary visas for low-wage work
• On January 21, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo allowing ICE officers to conduct operations at places of worship, reversing long-standing protections for these sensitive locations
• Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old Sikh grandmother who had faithfully reported to ICE every six months for over 13 years, was suddenly detained in September 2025 and deported to India after facing alleged mistreatment in detention
The white domes of San Jose's gurdwara, the largest Sikh temple in the United States, have stood as a spiritual beacon for decades. Yet today, fewer congregants are arriving for Sunday prayers.
Community members describe a palpable shift—uncertainty replacing the sense of sanctuary that these temples have long provided. Worshippers now hesitate to attend langar, the community kitchen where free meals are served daily, fearing encounters with immigration agents outside.
Journalist Tanay Gokhale, who spent the past year documenting this community's struggle, found that South Asians remain largely invisible in immigration discussions despite representing one of the fastest-growing undocumented groups. Indians are actually the fifth-largest undocumented population in the United States, yet their plight goes largely unrecognized.
Dr. Harpreet Singh Pannu, a Kaiser doctor who runs a free medical clinic at the San Jose gurdwara on Sundays, watches helplessly as patients stop seeking care. He explained,
For Sikh detainees in immigration facilities, the suffering runs deeper. In 2016, volunteer Simran Singh visited Mesa Verde detention center and discovered three South Asian detainees with no access to gutke—a holy prayer book essential to Sikh faith.
Today, that number has grown to 65 detainees, half of whom are Sikhs, yet resources and advocacy remain scarce.
The case of Harjit Kaur exemplifies the brutal reality facing this community. The 73-year-old grandmother, who had lived in Hercules, California, since the early 1990s and raised two sons while supporting five grandchildren, was detained without warning during a routine check-in on September 8.
Despite her family booking a commercial flight for her return to India with dignity and a relative to accompany her, ICE transferred her across the country to Georgia and placed her on a charter deportation flight without notification.
Allegations of inhumane treatment have emerged from her detention. Kaur was reportedly held for hours in cells without beds or chairs, forced to sleep on floors, shackled during transport, and denied vegetarian meals aligned with her faith.
She received nothing more than an apple or a plate of ice to take her medication, was prohibited from showering, and frequently refused access to water and hygiene supplies.
Simran Singh's work bringing spiritual comfort to detained Sikhs has revealed another layer of suffering—the clash between faith practices and detention protocols. When Singh discovered that detention centers prohibit hardbound books, he partnered with an importer in India to create softbound gutke with zip-close bag protection, finding creative solutions where institutions failed.
The turban issue remains particularly contentious. Sikh men are required to cover their heads as a fundamental religious practice, yet in 2022, dozens of Sikh detainees were forced to remove turbans at the border, with some seeing them discarded in trash.
For practicing Sikhs, such acts represent profound spiritual violation.
Singh reflected about detainees receiving gutke.
Community advocates stress that while solidarity exists among detainees from different backgrounds—prayer beads, or malas, becoming unexpected bridges between Sikhs and immigrants from Latin America—this grassroots support cannot replace institutional accountability and policy change.
Do You Know?
Punjabi is the third most-spoken language in several California counties, making gurdwaras critical hubs for in-language medical care, social services, and community support for Sikh Punjabi immigrants. When ICE operations disrupt these spaces, vulnerable populations lose access to essential services they cannot find elsewhere.
Key Terms
• Gurdwara: A Sikh place of worship that serves as both a spiritual center and community hub providing free meals (langar), social services, and healthcare information to worshippers.
• Langar: A community kitchen found in gurdwaras where free vegetarian meals are served daily to all visitors, regardless of their background or immigration status, reflecting Sikh values of equality and service.
• Gutke: A holy prayer book used by Sikhs for daily spiritual practice and meditation. Considered sacred, it must be treated with respect and protected from physical damage.
• ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement): The federal agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws in the United States. A January 21, 2025 memo expanded their authority to conduct operations at previously protected locations like schools, hospitals, and places of worship.
• Sensitive Location Protections: Historical ICE policy restrictions that protected certain spaces—hospitals, schools, religious institutions—from immigration enforcement operations unless absolutely necessary. These protections were significantly weakened by the January 2025 DHS memo.
Image from Wikimedia Commons