ICE detains green card holder father with tumor after 30 years in the US - Attorney

Paramjit Singh, a green card holder who immigrated to the United States from India more than 30 years ago, has been in federal custody for over a month after being detained by immigration agents in Chicago on July 30, according to his attorney.

Singh's attorney Luis Angeles said newsrealtime The detention has been "nothing short of horrific" for him and his family.

newsrealtime also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment via email.

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump Campaigned on mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, specifically targeting those with violent criminal records, and his administration increased immigration enforcement since his return to office in January. However, Many Americans have been critical of his immigration policy. As individuals with misdemeanors, decades-old infractions, or in some cases no criminal records at all have been swept up in the heightened enforcement.

Singh's case highlights the concerns raised by many immigration advocates about the administration's approach to border security and deportations.

What to Know

Singh, a lawful permanent resident who runs a business in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was detained at Chicago O'Hare Airport on July 30 after he returned from a trip to India, his family and attorney told local news station WPTA. His family said he makes this trip several times per year.

Singh has a brain tumor and a heart condition, and was kept inside the airport for five days. His condition deteriorated to the point where he had to be taken to the emergency room, reported the news station.

His family was not notified of the ER visit until they received a bill for his medical stay, Angeles said. newsrealtime.

Angeles said the alleged offense stems from an incident involving the use of a pay phone without payment, which he said is a "minor infraction for which he has already taken full accountability, served his time, and paid his debt to society."

"Efforts to secure his release have been 'exhaustive but frustrating,' " Angeles said.

"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," he said.

Several green card holders have been detained based on decades-old legal issues. A similar case that garnered national attention was that of Jemmy Jimenez Rosa , a Massachusetts mother who was held for 10 days based on a decades-old marijuana conviction. She was also taken to the hospital while being held at the airport without access to medication.

What People Are Saying

Angels also told newsrealtime : As a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), Mr. Singh should never have been detained in the first place, as he has always followed the rules to the letter. We often hear the mantra of 'follow the rules' to achieve legal status in this country. Well, that's exactly what he did: he entered the United States lawfully, adjusted his status properly, built his American dream through hard work, and has been a significant contributor to his community.

Singh's brother, Charanjit Singh, told WPTA: We're just trying to post the bond, we're just trying to speak to someone, trying to communicate with someone. We're lost.

A Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson previously told newsrealtime : "A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation's laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention and/or may be asked to provide additional documentation to be set up for an immigration hearing."

What Happens Next

WPTA reported that Singh's legal team filed an appeal and planned to seek immediate federal court review to challenge DHS's continued detention decision, and that the family aimed to post bond while the federal challenge proceeded.

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"We Had To Eat Like Animals": Immigrants Face Inhumane Conditions at US Detention Centers, Report Alleges

Inmates at a Miami immigration detention center were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates "like dogs," according to a report published on Monday detailing conditions at three overcrowded south Florida facilities. The report, titled "'You Feel Like Your Life is Over': Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centres Since January 2025," outlines allegations against the Trump administration regarding its treatment of immigrants. The document highlights the mistreatment at the Krome North Service Processing Centre, Broward Transitional Centre, and the Federal Detention Centre in Miami.

According to the Guardian , the report details how numerous men were confined in a crowded holding cell for extended periods, and were denied lunch until about 7 pm. They were required to eat while remaining in shackles, with their food placed on chairs before them. "We had to eat like animals," one detainee named Pedro said, according to the outlet.

The report alleged that guards' demeaning behavior is widespread across all three facilities. At the Krome North Service Processing Center, female detainees were made to use toilets in full view of men being held there, and were denied access to gender-appropriate care, showers or adequate food.

Due to overcrowding, some inmates claimed that they were held for more than 24 hours in a bus in the parking lot. Men and women were confined together and unshackled only when needed to use the single toilet, which quickly became clogged. "The bus became disgusting. It was the type of toilet in which normally people only urinate, but because we were on the bus for so long, and we were not permitted to leave it, others defecated in the toilet. Because of this, the whole bus smelled strongly of faeces," one man said.

Upon entering the facility, the detainees said that they spent up to 12 days crammed into a cold intake room without bedding or warm clothing, sleeping on concrete flooring. Krome's overcrowding meant every available space was used for holding new arrivals, the report stated. "By the time I left, almost all the visitation rooms were full. A few were so full that men couldn't even sit, all had to stand," said Andrea, a female detainee.

At Broward Transitional Centre, detainees reported insufficient medical and psychological care. Some experienced delayed treatment for injuries and chronic conditions, as well as dismissive or hostile responses from staff, the report said. In one alleged incident, staff turned off surveillance cameras and a "disturbance control team" brutally assaulted detainees who were protesting due to a lack of medical attention for a detainee coughing blood. One detainee even suffered a broken finger.

All three facilities were severely overcrowded, a former detainee said.

Also Read | Fear of US Federal Agents Forces Texas Immigrants to Stay Indoors Even During Medical Crisis

The report stated that the documented abuses reflect inhumane conditions inside federal immigration facilities that have significantly worsened since Trump's January inauguration and his subsequent push to increase detentions and deportations.

"The anti-immigrant escalation and enforcement tactics under the Trump administration are terrorizing communities and tearing families apart, which is especially cruel in the state of Florida, which thrives because of its immigrant communities," said Katie Blankenship, immigration attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South.

She added, 'The rapid, chaotic, and cruel approach to arresting and locking people up is literally deadly and causing a human rights crisis that will plague this state and the entire country for years to come.'

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Trump administration introduces a strict new ICE policy

AURORA, Colo. ‒ The man walked around the corner of the coral-pink detention center building, shuffling a little to keep his shoes on his feet. They'd taken his shoelaces. And his belt.

The 93-degree temperature bounced off the black asphalt as he walked free for the first time in six weeks, after federal immigration agents in California arrested him during a routine court check-in with his American citizen wife.

A year ago, he might have been one of a dozen men released on a day like this.

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But a few months ago, the releases from the privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center here slowed to maybe five a day.

Now, releases from the approximately 1,200-bed GEO ICE facility have slowed even further as the Trump administration tightens its grip on people accused of living illegally in the United States.

A new policy rolling out nationwide prevents judges from granting bond to most detained migrants. Those hearings often end with a judge releasing the detainee if they agree to post a cash bond, and in some cases, be tracked by a GPS device.

The White House argues that mass migration under former President Joe Biden was legally an "invasion," and it has used both the language and tools of war to close the borders and remove people who thought they had entered the country illegally.

"The Biden administration allowed violent gang members, rapists, and murderers into our country, under the guise of asylum, where they unleashed terror on Americans," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a July 12 press briefing Under President Trump, we are putting American citizens first.

Immigration court offers limited legal rights

Statistics show that migrants are far less likely to commit crimes than American citizens. And current federal statistics show that fewer than half of detained migrants have criminal records.

But because immigration court is run by the Justice Department and is not an independent judiciary, people within that system aren't entitled to the same protections - including the right to a speedy trial, a public defender if they can't afford their own attorney, or now, a bond hearing. , According to the administration. For detainees, bond often ranges from $5,000 to $20,000, immigration attorneys said.

Migrant-rights advocates say the loss of bond hearings means detainees will increasingly have to fight their deportation cases without legal representation or support and advice from community members. In many cases, detainees are being sent to holding facilities thousands of miles from home, advocates say.

Contesting deportation can take months, and migrant rights groups said they suspect the policy change is intended to pressure migrants into agreeing to be deported even if they have a solid legal case for remaining in the United States.

The Trump administration has not publicly released the policy change; advocates said they first read about it in The Washington Post on July 14 . Others said they learned of the policy change when Department of Justice attorneys read parts of it to judges during bond hearings.

The Trump administration's decision to deny bond hearings to detained immigrants is a cruel and calculated escalation of its mass detention agenda, one that prioritizes incarceration over due process and funnels human beings into for-profit prison corporations," said Karen Orona, communications manager at the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. "This move eliminates a lifeline for thousands of immigrants, stripping away their right to reunite with families, gather evidence, and fairly fight their cases.

Detention releases slowing

Out of all the people detained at the facility, only one man was released on July 15. And like every person released, a volunteer team from the nonprofit Casa de Paz met him on the street outside. They offered him a ride, a cell phone call, food.

Andrea Loya, executive director of the nonprofit, said that Casa volunteers have seen the Trump administration's tough approach unfold as they speak with those who are released. Like other migrant rights advocates, Loya said she is frustrated that private prison companies with close ties to the White House benefit financially from the new policy.

"It does not surprise me that this is the route we're headed down," she said. "Now what we can expect is to see almost no releases."

ICE previously lacked the detention space to hold every person accused of crossing the border outside of official ports of entry, which totaled 2.1 million "encounters" in 2024. The new July 4 federal spending bill provides ICE with funding for 80,000 new detention beds, allowing it to detain up to 100,000 people at any given time, in addition to funding an extra 10,000 ICE agents to make arrests.

Because historically there hasn't been enough dental space to hold every person accused of immigration violations, millions of people over the years have been released into the community after a bond hearing in which an immigration judge considered the likelihood of them returning for their next court date. They are then free to live their lives and work - legally or not - while their deportation cases remain pending, which can take years.

According ICE's 2024 annual report , there were more than 7.6 million people on what it calls the "non-detained" docket ‒ people accused of violating immigration law but considered not enough of a threat to keep locked up. The agency had been attaching GPS monitors to detainees that judges considered a low risk of violence but a higher risk of failing to return to court.

Detention is not just cruel but is unnecessary

Each detention costs taxpayers $152 per person every day, compared to $4.20 a day for GPS tracking. , ICE data shows.

According to the incarceration-rights group Vera Institute of Justice , 92% of people ordered to appear for immigration court hearings do so.

We know that detention is not just cruel but is unnecessary," said Elizabeth Kenney, associate director of Vera. "The government's justification of detention is just not supported by research or even their own data.

Like many migrant rights advocates, Kenney said she has not yet seen the specific policy.

In Seattle, attorney Tahmina Watson of Watson Immigration Law said the policy - the specifics of which she had also not seen - appeared to be part of ongoing administration efforts to limit due process for anyone accused of immigration violations.

They have created a system in which they can detain people longer and longer," said Watson. "Effectively this means that people who have potential pathways to legality are being held indefinitely. The whole notion is to put people into detention. And I don’t know where that’s going to end.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration introduces a strict new ICE policy

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