Judicial Restraint on Deportation of Wrongfully Convicted Man in Pennsylvania

Tue Nov 04 2025 08:13:24 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Two courts have intervened, preventing immigration officials from deporting Subramanyam Vedam, a man exonerated after four decades in prison for a wrongful murder conviction.

Subramanyam Vedam, 64, currently detained in Louisiana, is battling deportation after being wrongfully convicted of murder for 40 years. Recent rulings from two separate courts have postponed his deportation, allowing for further legal review of his case and a focus on the injustices he has faced.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two separate courts have ordered immigration officials not to deport a Pennsylvania man who spent four decades in prison before his murder conviction was overturned.

Subramanyam Vedam, 64, is currently detained at a short-term holding center in Alexandria, Louisiana, that’s equipped with an airstrip for deportations. Vedam, known as “Subu,” was transferred there from central Pennsylvania last week, relatives said.

An immigration judge stayed his deportation on Thursday until the Bureau of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case, which could take several months. Vedam’s lawyers also obtained a stay in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania on the same day, although they noted that that case may be on hold due to the immigration court's ruling.

Vedam came to the U.S. legally from India as an infant and grew up in State College, where his father taught at Penn State. He was serving a life sentence for a friend’s 1980 death before his conviction was overturned this year.

He was released from state prison on Oct. 3, only to be taken straight into immigration custody.

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to deport Vedam based on a no contest plea to charges of LSD delivery, filed when he was about 20 years old. His legal team argues that the 40 years he wrongly spent in prison, where he earned degrees and tutored other inmates, should outweigh the drug conviction.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated that the reversal in Vedam's murder case does not negate the drug conviction. Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, emphasized that having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE’s enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Vedam’s sister expressed relief at the decisions made by two judges to halt the deportation process, describing such a move as unwarranted while his immigration case is still pending. She expressed hope that the Board of Immigration Appeals will ultimately recognize that deportation would be a continued injustice for a man who has spent decades wrongfully incarcerated and has lived in the U.S. since he was nine months old.