High drama as consulate in Seattle rejects emergency visa to Kshama Sawant

Kshama Sawant.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Indian consulate in Seattle was witness to dramatic scenes on Thursday evening local time following its rejection of an emergency visa to Indian-American politician and former Seattle City Councilor Kshama Sawant to visit her ailing mother in Bengaluru, while her husband Calvin Priest has been granted the same visa.  

Following this, Ms. Sawant staged, what she called, a “peaceful civil disobedience” for the lack of providing a reason for her visa rejection. The Indian consulate in Seattle has contested this, calling her presence on the premises “unauthorised entry” and “trespass”.  

Responding to The Hindu over text, Ms. Sawant said, “My husband and I were inside the consulate in response to their phone call asking us to come there with our passports. We only went to the consulate because they called us.” 

The Seattle consulate’s website describes the grounds for considering emergency visas as those application “from U.S. passport holders of Indian origin and their family members who are required to visit India due to a family emergency, such as critical illness or death of a family member.”  

While the Seattle consulate website is silent on whether it conveys reasons for the denial of emergency visas, other consulate sites state the decision to grant a visa is “solely at the discretion of the consulate.” 

“They called me and my husband trespassers, even though we were there because the consulate asked us to come. We repeatedly said we’d leave once we get an explanation for why my visa has been rejected three times and why I’m on a reject list. Instead of simply answering our question, they threatened to call the police on us They started gathering in larger and larger numbers around the two of us and were becoming increasingly intimidating. All this made us feel concerned for our safety, so our fellow Workers Strike Back members came there to join our peaceful civil disobedience,” Ms. Sawant went on to say. 

While the official X handle of the Indian consulate at Seattle said, “Despite repeated requests, these individuals refused to leave the consulate premises and engaged in aggressive and threatening behaviour with the consulate staff. We were compelled to call in relevant local authorities to deal with the situation. Further action is being initiated against the trespassers.” 

“Three police cars showed up. So we decided to leave. But as we were trying to peacefully leave, one consulate staff person first violently grabbed a Workers Strike Back member and tried to take her phone. At the same time, another consulate staff person physically fought me when I was holding the door open for all of us to leave,” Ms. Sawant alleged.  

Ms. Sawant’s e-visa applications were denied twice in 2024. She has appealed to the Opposition parties to come together to state that they would not support “an inhumane agenda where Indian citizens, like my mother, are not allowed to meet their own families”. 

(With inputs from Suhasini Haidar)