Venkata Vasamsetty has lived in the United States lawfully for 27 years. She is a Green Card holder, a special-needs teacher in North Carolina, and the mother and grandmother of U.S. citizens. In May 2026, a federal immigration judge threw out the case against her, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security had not proven she was removable. Despite that ruling, ICE detained her on August 11 during a routine check-in in Charlotte, an appointment she had kept faithfully for years.

According to her immigration attorney, Zoe Wilson, Vasamsetty received "no warning" and "no opportunity to prepare" before she was taken into custody. She is severely diabetic, and Wilson says she "did not have her insulin or medical supplies" at the time of her arrest. She is now held at a detention facility in Georgia, hundreds of miles from home, and her supporters say she still isn't getting the insulin monitoring or diabetic-appropriate meals she needs.

Vasamsetty's case began after she traveled to India in 2022 to care for her aging parents. A Covid-19 infection and the complications that followed kept her overseas for months longer than planned, and immigration officials argued the extended absence meant she had abandoned her residency. She disputed that, pointing to her home, job, and family as proof she never intended to leave permanently, and in May a judge agreed.

Wilson says the case should concern anyone who assumes a court ruling and decades of lawful status guarantee protection: "If this can happen to her, people need to understand what this means." Her legal team is now challenging her detention in federal court.

Sign this petition to demand Venkata Vasamsetty's immediate release and the medical care she needs, before her health, and her family's future, pay the price for a case a judge already decided in her favor.