TEHRAN - More than 50 illegal Indian immigrants, seeking asylum in the U.S. after fleeing India due to fear of religious and political persecution, are being treated like criminals in a federal prison in Oregon where they have been detained for several weeks now, according to a report published in India’s state-run news agency.

The report quotes volunteers from legal advocacy groups saying that the detained immigrants are in a “miserable condition” and majority of them are Punjabi-speaking Sikhs, whose turbans have been taken away in the jail.

“It is heartbreaking when you go in there and you see the young kids like the ages are close to starting from 18 onwards, 22 to 24 in those jumpsuits…and you wonder how they ended up being treated as criminals,” says Navneet Kaur, a community college professor in Oregon. “They have not committed any crime, they have crossed the border and asked for a refuge or asylum.”

Navneet has interacted with most of the 52 Indian inmates in the federal prison in Oregon and says they were chained and handcuffed for 24 hours. “Even the hardcore criminals are not treated like that,” she is quoted saying in the report.

The Innovation Law Lab, a non-profit legal organization, has filed a lawsuit to seek access to these inmates and has been providing legal assistance to these inmates, the report added.