(PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES) U.S. immigration authorities are moving to deport Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, an Indian-born man who spent 43 years in a Pennsylvania prison for a murder he did not commit and was fully cleared this month. Vedam, 64, was exonerated and released on October 3, 2025, then immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under a decades-old removal order tied to a non-violent drug case from his youth—not the long-voided murder conviction.
Vedam arrived in the United States as an infant and grew up as a lawful permanent resident. He never became a U.S. citizen. In 1982, police arrested him for the shooting death of his friend, Thomas Kinser. A jury convicted him in 1983 on circumstantial evidence, and he received a life sentence without parole. That conviction collapsed after the Pennsylvania Innocence Project uncovered withheld records showing the bullet did not match the supposed murder weapon, leading the court to throw out the case and dismiss all charges.

The exoneration made Vedam the longest-serving exoneree in Pennsylvania history. But freedom lasted minutes. As he walked out of state custody, ICE agents detained him based on a “legacy deportation order” dating to the 1980s. That order stems from a guilty plea for intent to distribute LSD when he was 19. Because he had been serving a life sentence, immigration officers never executed the order. With his exoneration, ICE reactivated it and started deportation processing.
ICE says the agency is acting on his “criminal past” and a standing removal order, arguing that people with final orders are enforcement priorities. In statements cited by advocates, ICE described him as a “career criminal,” a label his lawyers and family strongly reject. They note he spent his entire adult life behind bars for a crime he did not commit and has no record of violence outside the wrongful murder case.
Legal posture and advocacy surge
Vedam is currently held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania and faces imminent removal to India, a country he last saw at nine months old. He has no family ties there.
Immigration lawyers and civil rights groups are urging authorities to rescind the removal order, calling deportation after exoneration a new layer of harm on top of decades of wrongful imprisonment. They argue that, had Vedam not been wrongly convicted in 1983, he likely would have challenged the immigration case in the 1980s and might have avoided removal altogether.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, cases like Vedam’s often turn on old orders that resurface after major changes in a person’s criminal case or custody status. Advocates say the stakes are especially high for longtime residents who entered the country as children and know no other home. They warn that deporting an exoneree under a decades-old order sends a chilling message to families who believed freedom would follow justice.
As of October 16, 2025, no public record shows ICE rescinded the old order or released Vedam. Public outcry has spread nationwide and abroad, with supporters stressing that his exoneration should count for more than a youthful drug offense from more than four decades ago. They point to the nature of the LSD case—non-violent—and ask for fairness after the state itself admitted it locked up the wrong man.
“Deportation after exoneration is a new layer of harm,” say legal advocates. They stress that decades behind bars robbed Vedam of the chance to contest the immigration consequences earlier.
Background and broader stakes
The timeline is stark:
- 1982 — Vedam was arrested for the murder of Thomas Kinser.
- 1983 — He was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
- 2022 — The Pennsylvania Innocence Project found withheld ballistics evidence undermining the conviction.
- October 3, 2025 — A court dismissed all charges and released him. Immediately, ICE reasserted a removal order from the 1980s that had been dormant while he served his life term. He was transferred straight into immigration detention.
Supporters say this sequence shows how wrongful convictions can ripple across a person’s entire life, even after a court clears their name. An old immigration case that might have been resolved in the 1980s is now driving a fast-track removal in 2025. Legal scholars note that decades in prison often mean lost evidence, lost witnesses, and lost chances to seek relief that may have been available in real time.
Family members say Vedam’s entire community is in the United States 🇺🇸. They worry he would land in India with no support, no home, and no memory of the country beyond childhood pictures. They also stress his age and health after 43 years in a cell, urging immigration officials to show restraint.
Advocates are asking ICE leadership to exercise discretion and allow him to remain while they seek ways to resolve the old order.
ICE position and where to find official guidance
ICE has signaled that final orders carry weight and that the agency prioritizes people with such orders. The agency’s enforcement mission includes removing individuals with standing removal decisions.
For official information about how the agency carries out removals and detention, readers can consult ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. That general guidance explains how ICE manages custody and removal for people with final orders.
Key legal and humanitarian arguments from advocates
- The case is not about retrying the drug offense; the question is whether a decades-old order should control the fate of a man the state now admits it wrongly imprisoned.
- Immigration law should account for the realities of wrongful convictions, including the lost chance to mount a defense in immigration court decades earlier.
- Deporting longtime residents who never naturalized—and who were brought to the U.S. as infants—raises acute humanitarian concerns.
Supporters emphasize that Vedam’s life has been defined by one injustice already. They say deportation now would be a second punishment for a person the state now recognizes as an exoneree.
Public response and next steps
- Faith groups, community leaders, and immigrant rights organizations continue to call for the removal order to be lifted.
- They are pressing for policy changes to prevent similar cases, especially for people brought to the United States as infants who have no ties elsewhere.
- Vedam’s lawyers are pursuing every legal avenue to stop his deportation to India.
For now, Vedam remains in ICE custody in Pennsylvania. His lawyers and supporters say the next weeks will decide whether he can rebuild a life in the only country he has ever known, or whether a legacy order from the 1980s will send him thousands of miles away from his family and home.
Critical deadlines and warnings: With immigration proceedings moving quickly after his release, time-sensitive legal filings and requests for prosecutorial discretion are likely the immediate focus for his defense team.
This Article in a Nutshell
Subramanyam Vedam, who spent 43 years imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, was exonerated and released October 3, 2025 after the Pennsylvania Innocence Project uncovered withheld ballistics evidence. Immediately upon release, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him under a decades-old removal order tied to a youthful guilty plea for intent to distribute LSD that remained unexecuted while he served a life sentence. Advocates and lawyers argue deportation would compound the injustice of wrongful imprisonment, noting Vedam entered the U.S. as an infant and has no ties to India. As of October 16, 2025, he remains detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center while legal teams press ICE to rescind the legacy order and pursue prosecutorial discretion or other remedies to prevent removal.