Two separate courts step in to stop deportation of Subramanyam Vedam, who was exonerated after spending over four decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit
In a major legal reprieve, two separate US courts have halted the deportation of Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, a 64-year-old Indian-origin man from Pennsylvania, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years for a murder he did not commit, reported timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
Vedam, a legal permanent US resident since infancy, has lived in the country since he was nine months old. After his exoneration and release in October 2025, he was taken into immigration custody and transferred to a detention facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, which has an airstrip used for deportations. His lawyers confirmed that his deportation has been temporarily stayed following two separate court rulings.
Vedam’s family calls his deportation ‘another untenable injustice’
On Thursday, an immigration judge granted a stay of deportation until the Board of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case — a process expected to take several months. Simultaneously, a US District Court in Pennsylvania issued a separate stay order, which could remain pending while the immigration case proceeds.
“We’re hopeful that the Board of Immigration Appeals will ultimately agree that Subu’s deportation would represent another untenable injustice,” said his sister Saraswathi, speaking to the Associated Press
Vedam had spent 43 years in maximum-security prison for the 1980 murder of his roommate Tom Kinser in State College, Pennsylvania — a conviction that was overturned last month. Sentenced to life in 1983, he maintained his innocence throughout and became Pennsylvania’s longest-incarcerated exoneree when released on October 3, 2025.
ICE seeks to deport Vedam over a decades-old drug charge
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is pursuing his deportation due to a no-contest plea he made at age 20 in a LSD delivery case. His attorneys argue that the four decades he spent unjustly behind bars, during which he earned degrees and mentored fellow inmates, should outweigh the old drug-related charge.
Born in India while his parents were visiting for a funeral, Vedam grew up entirely in Pennsylvania, where his father was a professor at Penn State University. His family emphasized that he has no meaningful ties to India, does not speak Hindi, and has no close relatives there.
“All we want is for him to be home with us and to move forward in life,” said his niece Zoë Miller-Vedam, adding that “he has more of a Philadelphia accent than anything else.”
The family fears he would be unable to survive alone if sent to India. “He’s unfamiliar with modern technology… In the US, he’d have family and a support system,” she said.
