After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam Subu Vedam was finally free. New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate. But before he could reach his family's arms, Mr. Vedam was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who want to deport him to India - a country he has not lived in since he was a baby.
Now, Mr. Vedam's legal team is fighting a deportation order and his family is determined to get him out of custody, for good.
His family is now working to navigate a new and very different situation. Her brother has gone from a facility where he knew inmates and guards alike, where he mentored fellow inmates, and where he had his own cell, to a facility where he shares a room with 60 men and where his history of good behaviour and mentorship is unknown.
More than 40 years ago, Mr. Vedam was convicted of murdering Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student. Kinser's body was found nine months after he went missing in a wooded area with a bullet wound in his skull.
The family stresses that Mr. Vedam's ties to India, where ICE has stated they would like to deport him, are weak at best. Although he was born there, he moved to the U.S. at nine months old. His community, consisting of his sister, four daughters, and other cousins, is primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
Mr. Vedam's lawyer argued that deporting him to a country where he has few connections represents another injustice for a man who has already endured significant hardship.
