Two US courts stop deportation of Indian-origin ‘Subu’ Vedam, freed after 43 years for wrongful conviction

US courts intervene to stop deportation of Indian-origin man freed after wrongful murder conviction

Two US courts have ordered immigration officials to halt the deportation of Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, a 64-year-old Indian-origin man from Pennsylvania who spent more than four decades in prison for a murder conviction that was overturned earlier this year.

Vedam, who moved to the United States with his parents when he was nine months old, is a legal permanent resident. He grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, where his father taught at Penn State University.

Vedam was convicted in 1983 of murdering his friend and former roommate, Thomas Kinser, in 1980, a case that lacked witnesses or a clear motive. He maintained his innocence for over 40 years before new ballistics evidence emerged, revealing that prosecutors had withheld key information.

In August, a Pennsylvania judge overturned his conviction, and Vedam was released on October 3. However, within hours of his release, he was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE is seeking to deport Vedam over a decades-old no-contest plea to charges of LSD delivery when he was around 20 years old. His legal team argues that the years he spent wrongfully incarcerated, during which he earned academic degrees and tutored fellow inmates, far outweigh the decades-old drug offense.

Vedam’s lawyers also contend that his deep ties to the United States, where he has lived his entire life, make his deportation unjust.

Vedam is currently being held at a short-term ICE facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, which has its own airstrip for deportations. He was transferred there from central Pennsylvania last week, according to his relatives.

Last Thursday, an immigration judge issued a stay on his deportation until the Board of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case, a process expected to take several months. On the same day, the US District Court in Pennsylvania also granted a stay, though that proceeding may be paused pending the immigration court’s review.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that the reversal of the murder conviction does not affect the earlier drug charges. “Having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE’s enforcement of the federal immigration law,” said Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

Vedam’s sister, Saraswathi, expressed cautious relief over the rulings. “We’re also hopeful that the Board of Immigration Appeals will ultimately agree that Subu’s deportation would represent another untenable injustice,” she said, describing her brother as “a man who not only endured 43 years in a maximum-security prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but has also lived in the U.S. since he was 9 months old.”