US Courts Halt Deportation Of Indian-Origin Man Wrongfully Jailed For 43 Years

US Courts Halt Deportation Of Indian-Origin Man Wrongfully Jailed For 43 Years

Two US courts blocked the deportation of Subramanyam Vedam, a 64-year-old Indian-origin man who spent 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, before his conviction was overturned earlier this year. Subramanyam Vedam, who arrived in the United States legally as an infant, was taken into immigration custody immediately after his release from a Pennsylvania prison in October. He now faces removal proceedings that his lawyers call a “second injustice."

An immigration judge last week stayed Subramanyam Vedam's deportation until the Board of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case- a process that could take months. His attorneys also secured a parallel stay from the US District Court in Pennsylvania though that case may be paused following the immigration court's intervention.

Case Built On Withheld Evidence

Subramanyam Vedam is a lawful permanent resident who had applied for US citizenship before his arrest in 1982 for the 1980 killing of his friend Thomas Kinser. Prosecutors alleged he was the last person seen with Thomas Kinser, yet his conviction was based on circumstantial evidence, with no witnesses, motive or physical proof.

In August, a Pennsylvania court vacated the conviction after Subramanyam Vedam's defense team uncovered ballistics evidence suppressed by prosecutors for decades. His release on October 3 should have marked the end of a 43-year ordeal but immigration officers were waiting. Instead of returning home, Subramanyam Vedam was transferred into federal custody.

He is currently being held at a detention facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, a short-term center equipped with its own deportation airstrip. Family members told the Associated Press he was moved there from Pennsylvania last week.

ICE Points To Old Drug Charge

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is seeking Subramanyam Vedam's deportation over a minor drug offense from his youth- a no-contest plea to LSD delivery entered when he was about 20. His attorneys argue that his decades of wrongful imprisonment, during which he earned college degrees and mentored fellow inmates, should outweigh a non-violent offense from the 1970s. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, insists that the reversal of his murder conviction does not affect his earlier record.

Family Calls Deportation ‘Unthinkable'

Subramanyam Vedam's family said they were “deeply relieved" that two courts had intervened to suspend deportation proceedings. His sister Saraswathi Vedam said, “We're grateful that two different judges have agreed that Subu's deportation is unwarranted while his immigration case is pending."

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She said deporting her brother- who has lived in the US since he was nine months old- would amount to “another untenable injustice."

“He endured 43 years in a maximum-security prison for a crime he didn't commit," she said, adding, “Sending him away now would be unthinkable."

Source: News18
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