GUWAHATI, Jan 27: After US President Donald Trump declared in his inauguration day speech that he would deport “illegal aliens”, officials from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sunday visited gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to check for “illegal” immigrants.
The move, meanwhile, led to sharp reactions from Sikh organisations.
“We are deeply alarmed by the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to eliminate protections for sensitive areas and then target places of worship like gurdwaras,” news agency PTI quoted Kiran Kaur Gill, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDF), as saying.
“This troubling shift in policy comes in tandem with community reports of DHS agents visiting gurdwaras in the New York and New Jersey areas just days after the directive was issued,” SALDF further said.
These actions threatened the “sanctity” of the Sikh faith and sent a “chilling message” to immigrant communities in the US, Gill was reportedly said.
