TW: This article mentions details about violence.
The U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has abruptly detained Paramjit Singh, a 48-year-old green card holder living in Indiana, since July 30. He has been battling a brain tumor and a heart condition, according to his family and attorney. Singh, who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years and owns a chain of gas stations, was taken into custody at Chicago’s airport while returning from a trip to India.
His family and lawyer, Louis Angeles, say the detention has been ruthless and medically dangerous for the patient. Singh’s wife says he has grown weaker each day in detention, allegedly being kept in a cold room without blankets or access to his medications. These deportations are a part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation drive, which has created a deep divide and chaos in the country.
As per The Independent, Paramjit Singh was reportedly only given proper medical care on 17 September, nearly two months after being detained, and only after the family contacted U.S. Congressman Marlin Stutzman.
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Attorney Angeles described Singh’s detention as “horrific,” saying it is putting his life at risk. Singh needs urgent surgery for his tumor, but ICE continues to hold him, citing an old criminal case from 1999.
Singh was convicted of a felony after people used a payphone at his family’s gas station to make international calls. He said he didn’t realize the phone was charging for the calls. He paid a $4,137.50 fine and served a 10-day jail sentence at the time. Despite serving his sentence, the government has dug up the 26-year-old case and detained him.
His attorney insisted the case was a minor offense and that Singh had already served his sentence. He said there are no active charges, yet ICE is still using the decades-old conviction to justify Singh’s detention. Over 200,000 people have been arrested by ICE this year, with many detained during routine activities like going to work or visiting stores.
Major cities like Chicago, Washington D.C, and Los Angeles have already witnessed brutal protests regarding these ruthless pickups and deportations. Still, nothing seems to change. Many immigrant families avoid leaving their homes in fear of arrest and poor treatment.
In a similar incident, ICE agents targeted an 11-year-old girl in February 2025 during the second week of Trump’s second term after her family was detained while rushing to a Texas hospital on February 3, 2025.
⚡ After 30 years in US, green card holder Indian-origin man with brain tumour detained in US:
For more than 30 years, Paramjit Singh called America his home. A green card holder, a businessman in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a man who built his American dream through hard work, yet… pic.twitter.com/WNKJhT1o6V
— OSINT Updates (@OsintUpdates) September 18, 2025
Singh’s tumor is already deteriorating, and his wife is worried about his well-being. “The tumor worsens under stress. He has lost a lot of weight,” she told The Quint. “My husband cries during our short phone calls. Our son can’t focus on school; he just wants his father home.”
Reportedly, he fell sick right after his arrest, and he was taken to an emergency room at the airport. ICE allegedly withheld his luggage, including his medication and clothes. Meanwhile, his legal team claimed that dealing with the system to get Paramjit out has also been a rough and frustrating process.
Furthermore, Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive has also enforced disappearances of immigrants, which has become increasingly common. The ICE authorities deliberately make the process longer, and allegedly, a few accused vanish on the day of their hearing.
For those unfamiliar, an enforced disappearance happens when a person is secretly abducted or detained by state agents, and the state then refuses to acknowledge their whereabouts. These immigrants are often sent to dangerous foreign places and denied basic rights.
Since America has one of the largest immigrant populations, these detentions and deportations aren’t new, but, because of Trump’s traditional and aggressive style of leadership, the process seems inhuman, tiring, and scary.
