Hyderabad, January 03: For the last 11 days, Deepthi (name changed on request) has not moved out of the apartment that she shares with a fellow Tri-Valley University (TVU) student in Pleasanton, California. Ever since US Immigration and Customs Enformcement (ICE) officials called on her to check her status in the country, her spirits have sunk.
Her university has been busted, the money her family raised to send her to the US has gone down the drain and she may have to drag the RFID anklet around until September when the hearing on her future is likely to take place.
It had all begun disconcertingly. Two tall, uniformed officers knocked on the door of her apartment early that day and asked the girls could they see their please. They asked searching questions and took out a black device and invited Deepthi to wear it on her ankle.
“What’s that,’’ she asked.
“That’s a radio tag. We just want to know where you are,” the officer replied and left.
It took the intimidated girl some time to gather her wits and call her family back in Hyderabad to tell what just happened.
Today, her parents and brothers try to keep Deepthi’s spirits up with phone calls and emails every day but sometimes she is too depressed to talk and just switches off her mobile phone.
Asked if the RFID anklet is ‘hip and happening’ as described by a consulate officer here, Deepthi said she didn’t think so “right at this moment.’’ She’d never worn a silver anklet at home either.
“It is way too uncomfortable to have round the ankle 24×7. I’ve been wearing it for the last ten days and I feel like tearing it away right now,’’ she said on the telephone from Pleasanton.
The five-inch tracker is a constant reminder of the uncertainty of the next few weeks, maybe a few months.
To her family back home, the radio tracker is the rub of insult to injury.
“We sent her after a proper process. She had chosen TVU as a couple of her seniors were studying there. She got an I20 from TVU and applied for a visa on that basis. The US consulate gave her visa after going through her papers. What fraud has she committed?’’ says Karthikeya, her brother.
The family is indeed familiar with the facts ‘servants’ sometimes wear chunky silver anklets and seem to carry it around with no difficulty. So what’s the fuss about the hip and happening anklet. ‘’It just makes her feel like a criminal,’’ says Karthikeya. ‘’She is a girl and should not have been radio-tagged like this.”
–Agencies