Venkata Vasamsetty, who has lived in the US for 30 years and is a Green Card holder, has been detained by ICE in a bizarre case of immigration while her daughter Yashaswini Vasamsetty is an employment-based immigration attorney licensed in Texas and New Jersey. Yashaswini's friend Zoe Ji Wilson shared the ordeal of Venkata Vasamsetty as Vasamsetty's family is collecting signatures for a 'Free Venkata' campaign.
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What is Venkata Vasamsetty's story?
Venkata has been in the US legally for 30 years and she got her Green Card in 2013. She is a teacher with the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, owns a house and is the mother to two daughters, who are US citizens. She is also a grandmother to US citizens. The family said that Venkata does not have any criminal records and not even a speeding ticket ever.
Can a Green Card holder be arrested?
Yes, a Green Card holder can be arrested if they break the conditions that one needs to fulfil as a Green Card holder. An absence of more than six months from the US can raise questions about whether a permanent resident intended to abandon their US residence. This happened in Vasamsetty's case during a Covid emergency.
In July 2022, Venkata traveled to India to see her father, who was suffering from several medical conditions. She got COVID in November and had to defer her return to the US as she had to be hospitalized in India for nearly two weeks. She returned to the US in February 2023 -- after spending seven months outside the US.
She was stopped at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport as she returned and the DHS told her that she had been abroad for a long period, which made a case of intention to abandon the Green Card. But she was, at that time, in the process of purchasing a house in North Carolina and had no intention of going back to India.
ICE gave her a date to appear in immigration court and allowed her to go home to her family for the time being. She was asked to report to ICE’s Charlotte office on a regular basis. Her family said that Venkata attended every single ICE appointment and they submitted all the documents to prove that it was only the situation that delayed her and she had no intention to leave the US.
A court then finally ordered in favour of Venkata and said that the DHS could not meet their "burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence" that Vasamsetty was removable as charged.
On May 19, 2026, the case against Vasamsetty was terminated and she was moved out of the removal proceedings. But she had a scheduled ICE appointment on July 11. ICE did not cancel the date and Vasamsetty did not skip the appointment either assuming that she did not have any need to appear as the case ws dropped. She took the court order to the appointment but she was asked to come a month later as ICE did not have its records updated. When she went for the August 11 appointment, she was detained.
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