A longtime lawful permanent resident is again facing deportation after U.S. immigration authorities reopened a case over her seven-month stay in India. Venkata Vasamsetti, 59, has lived legally in the United States for more than two decades and worked as a special education teacher in a public school.
Vasamsetti, an Indian national, entered the United States legally in 1999 and became a green card holder in 2013. The case began in July 2022, when she left for India to care for her father, whose health had worsened. She later contracted COVID-19 while there and returned to the United States about seven months later.
Immigration authorities said the long absence meant she had effectively abandoned her permanent resident status and placed her in removal proceedings. But in May, an immigration judge in Charlotte dismissed the case, saying the government had not submitted evidence to support deportation.
The matter did not end there. On Aug. 11, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Vasamsetti during a routine check-in and transferred her to a detention center in Georgia, restarting deportation proceedings. Her attorney said it was unfair to raise the same issue again after the case had already been dismissed. The case highlights the legal risks that long stays abroad can pose for green card holders, even those with U.S. citizen children and grandchildren and no criminal record.
