Subramanyam Subu Vedam was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years for a crime he did not commit, only recently being exonerated after new evidence emerged clearing him of murder charges. Despite his newfound freedom, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has taken him into custody for deportation back to India—a country he has not lived in since infancy.
Vedam's case highlights alarming issues within the U.S. immigration system. His family is now working diligently to navigate this new and precarious situation following his long ordeal behind bars. Saraswathi Vedam, his sister, expressed the family’s distress as Subu transitioned from a familiar prison environment where he mentored other inmates to a detention facility shared with 60 men, wresting back control from the life he thought he could reclaim.
My name has been cleared, I’m no longer a prisoner, I’m a detainee, Vedam told his family, as they fight against the deportation order that looms over his legal status.
More than four decades ago, Vedam was convicted of the murder of Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student, after a series of missteps in the judicial process left him languishing behind bars. Now, with the charges dropped but the immigration order remaining pending, his exoneration has not freed him from the shackles of a system that continues to label him an outsider.
ICE cited a lawful deportation order from 1988, tied to both Vedam’s murder conviction and a drug offense, which has yet to be resolved legally, even after his exoneration. While his family argues that this sequence of events creates a compelling case for remaining in the U.S., ICE maintains their legal authority, emphasizing that he will remain detained until his deportation is finalized.
As family ties to India weaken and their community is firmly placed in the U.S., the prospect of Subu being deported is seen as yet another injustice in a life already marred by wrongful punishment. His lawyer has described this potential action as not only a “record-setting injustice” but a further theft of a life already fragmented by false allegations.
Subu’s family continues to rally for his release, emphasizing the disproportional consequences he faces—a man who had already endured a monumental legal battle, only to confront debilitating isolation once again. They argue for a reconsideration of his situation, highlighting his reformative actions throughout his imprisonment as evidence of his rehabilitation and commitment to bettering himself.
Thus, the case continues, as the Vedam family strives to keep their loved one from being uprooted from everything he knows, forcing them to reckon with the implications of both wrongful imprisonment and complex immigration laws.
