After waiting more than four decades to clear his name in a friend’s 1980 killing, Subramanyam Vedam was set to walk free from a Pennsylvania prison this month.

A judge in August threw out a murder conviction against Vedam in the death of Thomas Kinser, finding new ballistics evidence that prosecutors hadn't disclosed during his two trials. A lawyer called Vedam the victim of a “profound injustice.”

But as his sister prepared to bring him home on Oct. 3, the thin, white-haired Vedam was instead taken into federal custody over a 1999 deportation order. The 64-year-old, who legally came to the U.S. from India when he was 9 months old, now faces another daunting legal fight.

Amid the Trump Administration's focus on mass deportations, Vedam's lawyers must persuade an immigration court that

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