North Carolina teacher and grandmother detained by ICE despite dismissed immigration case
Venkata Vasamsetty, a green card holder since 2013 who moved to the U.S. from India in 1999, worked as a special-needs substitute teacher with Wake County Public School System in Cary, North Carolina, and is a grandmother. Her immigration troubles began after a 2022 trip to India to care for her ill father, during which she contracted COVID-19 and stayed abroad for over seven months, prompting DHS to allege she had abandoned her permanent residency. An immigration judge dismissed that case in May after DHS missed a court deadline, but she was detained anyway during a scheduled check-in at the Charlotte ICE office and transferred to a detention facility in rural south Georgia. Her daughter Teja, an immigration attorney, said she was shackled and family members pleaded with officers during the arrest, describing themselves as frantic. Family members say she is severely diabetic and has not received proper insulin, medications, or food in custody. Attorney Zoe Wilson and family friends launched a 'Free Venkata' campaign and filed an emergency habeas corpus petition, and she has a scheduled bond hearing.





































