Deportation Of Indian-Origin Man, Wrongfully Jailed For 43 Years, Halted By US Courts

Two US courts have ordered immigration officials not to deport Subramanyam Vedam, the 64-year-old Indian-origin man who spent four decades in prison before his murder conviction was overturned earlier this year. Vedam was nine months old when he came to the US with his parents legally from India. He grew up in State College, where his father taught at Penn State.

An immigration judge stayed his deportation on Thursday until the Bureau of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case. That could take several months. Vedam's lawyers also got a stay the same day in the US District Court in Pennsylvania but said that the case may be on hold given the immigration court ruling.

A False Case

Known by his relatives as "Subu", Vedam is a legal permanent resident of the US and, according to his lawyer, had his citizenship application accepted before his arrest in 1982 in a murder case. Vedam was accused of killing his friend Thomas Kinser in 1980. He was the last person seen with Kinser and was twice convicted of killing him, despite a lack of witnesses or motive.

In August, a judge overturned his conviction after Vedam's lawyers found new ballistics evidence that prosecutors had never disclosed.

He was set to walk free from a Pennsylvania prison on October 3 after waiting more than four decades to clear his name but was taken straight into immigration custody.

Vedam is currently detained at a short-term holding centre in Alexandria, Louisiana, that's equipped with an airstrip for deportations. He was transferred there from central Pennsylvania last week, his relatives told the Associated Press.

Why ICE Wants To Deport Subu

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking to deport Vedam over his no-contest plea to charges of LSD delivery, filed when he was about 20. His lawyers argue that the four decades he wrongly spent in prison, where he earned degrees and tutored fellow inmates, should outweigh the drug case.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Monday that the reversal in 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.

Family's Plea

Vedam's sister said 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," Saraswathi Vedam said, "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."