• 08/08/2023

  Ensuring Dignity for Sikh Migrants

  SALDEF is working with local asylum shelters, gurdwaras, and community volunteers in the Phoenix, Arizona area to establish a dastaar fulfillment network that will allow shelters, gurdwaras, and even federal border facilities to request and receive dastaars and 5Ks for recent Sikh migrants who need replacements. We are working to expand this network to other parts of Arizona and Texas. We continue to engage with DHS and CBP to develop better training for field agents and help vet their new guidance for religious sensitivity.

• 05/10/2023

  Ensuring Dignity for Sikh Migrants

  SALDEF has collaborated with multi-faith partners to submit policy guidance for Customs & Border Patrol on handling religious articles of faith and how to respectfully search the 5 Ks if necessary. Additionally, SALDEF is building a distribution network for replacement articles of faith. We are coordinating donations from the national sangat with volunteers at the border to ensure replacement 5 Ks are available at gurdwaras, volunteer-run migrant shelters, and border facilities where they are needed by Sikh migrants. We are also conducting a survey in Punjabi to gather primary data from Sikh migrants about their experience in custody to better inform our advocacy to Congress and Customs & Border Patrol.

• 02/02/2023

  Ensuring Dignity for Sikh Migrants

  SALDEF is working with multi-faith partners to produce policy guidance for Customs & Border Patrol on handling religious articles of faith. SALDEF’s current focus is how agents can sensitively process Sikh migrants, including the meanings of the 5 Ks and how to respectfully search these items if necessary. Additionally, SALDEF has provided training materials and resources on Sikhism for Sikh-specific training for CBP which will include background on the 5 K’s and Sikh religious practices. 

• 08/22/2022

  Submitted a Letter to the Secretary of the DHS

  SALDEF joined the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU-AZ) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and more than 160 civil rights, immigration, religious, advocacy, and other organizations in submitting a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the continued mistreatment of Sikhs and other religious migrants at our southern border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.

• 02/25/2022

  Provide Care to Detained Unaccompanied Minor's

  Every Wednesday SALDEF is given a chance to connect with the Sikh children at Heartland Alliance to hold a satsang program and pray together. In addition, one Sunday each month, SALDEF is invited to participate in interfaith events together with the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants and other religious communities. During those interfaith gatherings the children are given an opportunity to learn about the Sikh religion and other religions as well as eat sweets from all different cultures.

• 12/02/2021

  Care for Detained SIkh Unaccompanied Minors

  SALDEF’s goal is to ensure the long-term safety of these children and to ensure there is respect for their culture and tradition as well as their religious needs. Donors like you supporting us in our efforts. Thank you so much!!

  On November 4th, 2021 SALDEF Program Director, Sharan Kaur Singh partnered with Dr. Carmen Arellano, Director of Children's Visitation Program at the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants to celebrate Bandi Chor Divas at the all women Heartland Alliance facility called Casa Heartland at Princeton (CHAP) in Chicago. Sharan presented on why Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chor Divas on this auspicious day to both the children and the staff at CHAP.

  All the children were given gifts. The staff and children also got to eat some Indian snacks and sweets. Then everyone got to light some candles and play with sparklers in the backyard of the facility! The children were very appreciative of the opportunity to celebrate this holiday as many of these unaccompanied minors had arrived almost 5 years ago and have not had a chance to celebrate Bandi Chor Divas since then. One of the girls even said that the sweets she got to eat that day were her favorite! 

• 09/01/2021

  Care for Detained Unaccompanied Minors

  In the recent months, Heartland Alliance has informed SALDEF that there are number of unaccompanied Sikh minors being housed at their centers. SALDEF has been collaborating with the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants (ICDI), our local partners and Heartland Alliance to provide weekly spiritual care services to our Sikh children and ensure the needs of the children are being met.

• 06/14/2021

  Care for Unaccompanied Minors

  With a record number of unaccompanied minors including teens and children who arrive at the border every week, SALDEF is continuing to monitor and support the work being done at Heartland Alliance. As these numbers increase, SALDEF will continue to provide care and resources needed for any Sikh Unaccompanied minors including the opportunity to be fairly represented in immigration courts.

• 04/08/2021

  Care for Detained Sikh Unaccompanied Minors

  With a record number of unaccompanied minors including 18,890 teens and children who arrived at the border in the past several weeks, SALDEF is continuing to monitor and support the work being done at Heartland Alliance. As these numbers increase and the challenges of the pandemic overwhelms U.S. shelter capacity and produces crisis-level crowding inside government border tents, SALDEF will continue to provide care and resources needed for any Sikh Unaccompanied minors including the opportunity to be fairly represented in immigration courts.

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