UPDATE, April 2, 2026 @5:10 p.m.: This story was updated to include comment from one of Vedam's nieces and from a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.
Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, the State College man who was released from prison after his conviction for first-degree murder was overturned last year, only to be taken into ICE custody, could soon be released from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.
Adam Panopoulos, a federal immigration judge, granted Vedam relief from his deportation order Thursday morning. That deportation order to India was partially based on drug trafficking charges from the early 1980s, including pleading no contest to selling LSD.
Panopoulos, based in a New Jersey courtroom, heard nearly four hours of online testimony Wednesday, mostly from Vedam and his sister, Saraswathi Vedam.
Panopoulos said Vedam demonstrated "genuine rehabilitation" during his 44 years in prison and ICE custody and shows no risk of harm to the community. Panopoulos said Vedam has the potential to significantly contribute to American society if he’s released, since he’s already gotten a full-ride offer to Oregon State University to pursue a Ph.D. program and teach part-time.
One of Vedam’s nieces, Zoë Miller-Vedam, said she was amazed to hear a judge speak so positively about her uncle.
“We've never experienced something like that," Miller-Vedam said. "And it just filled us up in a way that I don't know that I believed was possible.”
Vedam is still in the Moshannon Valley Processing Center awaiting a bond hearing for release and a potential appeal from the Department of Homeland Security. A spokesperson for Vedam's family said his attorneys will file a bond request by Friday.
“I don't think it will feel real until I'm actually able to give him a hug, because I haven't been able to do that in months," Miller-Vedam said.
Miller-Vedam said she has visited her uncle at the detention center in Philipsburg, but the visitation area doesn’t allow physical contact.
If Vedam is released, he said he plans to move to Sacramento, California with his nieces and help raise one of their children while continuing his education.
In an emailed statement to WPSU, a DHS spokesperson did not answer if they will appeal the judge’s decision, but did say "having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE’s enforcement of the federal immigration law.”
The deadline for DHS to appeal is May 4.
