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, his sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC. Her brother has transitioned from a facility where he was familiar to one where he shares a room with 60 men and where his previous good behavior is unknown.

Mr. Vedam has been repeating one message to his family in the wake of this new situation: 'I want us to focus on the win.' He emphasized, 'My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee.'

The 1980 murder

More than 40 years ago, Mr. Vedam was convicted of murdering Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student. Kinser's body was discovered nine months after he went missing, with a bullet wound in his skull. On the day of his disappearance, Mr. Vedam had asked Kinser for a ride, with no witnesses to corroborate the narrative against him.

After being convicted two years later, Mr. Vedam maintained his innocence throughout, stating no physical evidence linked him to the crime.

Mr. Vedam's exoneration

Mr. Vedam's appeals led to the discovery of new evidence, and this month, the Centre County District Attorney announced they would no longer pursue a new trial against him. However, his family knew there was still a deportation order from 1988 due to his previous convictions.

ICE quickly detained Mr. Vedam citing the immigration order as the reason. While he has been exonerated for murder, the drug conviction still stands, and ICE stated they acted on a legally issued order.

Potential deportation to India

The family argues that Mr. Vedam's ties to India are weak at best, having moved to the U.S. at nine months old. His relatives in India are distant, while his immediate family is in the U.S. and Canada. They believe deporting him to a country where he has minimal connections would represent another injustice against a man who has already suffered immensely.

With his citizenship application accepted prior to his arrest and both parents being U.S. citizens, his lawyer argues that sending him away is a continuation of a historical wrong.