US: Over 50 Indian asylum seekers separated from families, detained in Oregon

More than 50 Indians, mostly Sikhs and Christians, seeking asylum have been detained at a federal prison in Oregonin the United States and have been separated from their families.

Out of the total of 123 immigrants seeking asylumdetained at a federal prison in Oregonin the United States around 52 are reportedly Indians - mostly Sikhs and Christians - who say they are fleeing religious persecution, reports said.

The detention centre was recently visited by a group of Democratic lawmakers from the Oregon State, who later told the media about the alleged inhuman condition of the illegal immigrants.

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At least 70 of the people separated from their families and detained in Sheridan are South Asians, lawyer-activist Valarie Kaur said on Twitter.

The group also includes 13 immigrants from Nepal and two from Bangladesh. The rest come from Mexico, Brazil and China, among other countries.

The detainees from India is the largest group of detainees being held in Sheridan, wrote Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici on her blog post. She along with several other Democratic lawmakers from the State visited the detention centre Saturday.

"Through our Punjabi translator, we learned that these men were planning to request asylum because they faced severe religious persecution in India. Most are Sikh or Christian. Instead, they were incarcerated in a federal prison," PTI quoted her as saying.

"They said they came to the United States for religious freedom, but they felt as if they were 'going crazy' because they are being confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day," the Congresswoman said.

The Indian detainees pointed out that the other non-immigrant prisoners get far more time out of cells, she said

The asylum-seekers have been detained under the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which was introduced in May.

With this policy, all immigrants illegally crossing the border into the US can be criminally prosecuted in federal court. Any minors travelling with them are taken into government custody.

On Monday, Democratic and Republican lawmakers upped the ante Sunday on the thorny issue of the separation of migrant children from their parents at the US border, as First Lady Melania Trump made a rare political plea to end the deeply controversial practice.

According to lawmakers, the detainees described stress as they sit in cells day after day without knowing when they will get a hearing, or get a lawyer, or what comes next.

(With PTI inputs)