Two separate courts have issued orders directing immigration officials not to deport an Indian-origin man who spent four decades in prison prior to having his murder conviction overturned.
Subramanyam Vedam, 64, is presently detained at a short-term holding center located in Alexandria, Louisiana, which is equipped with an airstrip specifically for deportations. Vedam, who is known as 'Subu', was transferred to this facility from central Pennsylvania last week, according to statements from his relatives.
On Thursday, an immigration judge issued a stay on his deportation, which will remain in effect until the Bureau of Immigration Appeals determines whether to review his case. This decision-making process could take several months.
Additionally, Vedam's lawyers secured a stay on the same day from the US District Court in Pennsylvania, though they indicated that this particular case may now be placed on hold in light of the immigration court ruling.
Vedam arrived in the US legally from India as an infant and was raised in State College, where his father was a faculty member at Penn State. He had been serving a life sentence in connection with the 1980 death of a friend before his conviction was overturned earlier this year.
He was released from state prison on October 3, only to be immediately taken into immigration custody. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pursuing Vedam's deportation based on his no contest plea to charges of LSD delivery, which were filed when he was approximately 20 years old. His lawyers contend that the four decades he spent wrongly incarcerated in prison—during which he earned degrees and tutored fellow inmates—should outweigh the drug case in consideration.
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A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security stated on Monday that the reversal of the murder case does not negate the drug conviction. “Having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE's enforcement of the federal immigration law," Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said in an email.
Vedam's sister stated on Monday that the family is relieved "that two different judges have agreed that Subu's deportation is unwarranted while his effort to reopen his immigration case is still pending."
“We're also hopeful that the Board of Immigration Appeals will ultimately agree that Subu's deportation would represent another untenable injustice inflicted on 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 US since he was 9-months-old," Saraswathi Vedam said.
Also Read: Families count losses after US deportations
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