Venkata Vasamsetty, a green card holder for nearly three decades, a grandmother, and a special-needs educator with the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, was detained by ICE on August 11 during a scheduled check-in at the Charlotte ICE office. Her case arose after she traveled to India in July 2022 to care for her seriously ill father, contracted COVID-19, and spent over seven months abroad, leading DHS to allege she had abandoned her permanent residency. She contested the claim with evidence of her home, family, and employment ties in the U.S., and an immigration judge dismissed the case in May after DHS missed a court deadline. Despite the dismissal, she was detained during her follow-up check-in and transferred to Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, where her family says she is severely diabetic and has not received insulin, medications, or proper food. Her daughter, an immigration attorney, pleaded with officers during the arrest, and along with attorney Zoe Wilson and family friends launched a 'Free Venkata' campaign and filed an emergency habeas corpus petition alleging unlawful detention.