Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, who spent 43 years in a US prison for a murder he did not commit, was exonerated earlier this month only to be immediately detained by immigration authorities seeking to deport him to India — a country he left as a baby.
Vedam’s family and legal team are now fighting the deportation order, calling it a cruel continuation of his ordeal. His sister described how he was taken from a prison where he was respected and settled into a facility where he is treated as just another detainee, even as he focuses on the fact that his name has been cleared.
Vedam was convicted in 1982 of killing his roommate, Tom Kinser, despite a lack of physical evidence, and was later given a concurrent sentence for a minor drug offence.
New evidence led prosecutors to drop the murder case, but an old 1988 deportation order tied to his convictions has been revived by ICE, which says it is acting lawfully. Vedam’s family argues deportation would be another grave injustice, as he has no meaningful ties to India and has lived his entire life in the United States, where his parents were citizens and his family remains.
So why didn’t he become a citizen? I agree this sucks but I think this is a case where there’s a strong argument of having citizenship if want to stay in a nation long term.
smokescreen