Venkata Narsamamba Vasamsetty, an Indian-origin woman who has lived in the US for 27 years, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a scheduled check-in at its Charlotte, North Carolina, office on August 11.A grandmother of two, Vasamsetty has been a lawful permanent resident (LPR) in the US since 2013. She is being held at an immigration detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, despite an immigration judge terminating the government’s earlier deportation case against her in May.Who is Venkata Vasamsetty?According to a LinkedIn post by immigration attorney Zoe Ji Wilson, a friend and former colleague of Venkata Vasamsetty’s daughter, Yashaswini, Vasamsetty has lived in the US for more than 27 years and works as a public school teacher with special-needs children. Wilson said she had received the family’s permission to discuss the case publicly.Wilson said Vasamsetty has no criminal history and has maintained lawful immigration status throughout her time in the US. She is a mother of two US-citizen children and grandmother of two US-citizen grandchildren.Why was she detained?The case stems from Vasamsetty’s roughly seven-month stay in India between July 2022 and February 2023. According to Wilson, she travelled to India because her elderly parents were critically ill and needed her help.Her return was delayed after she contracted COVID-19 in November 2022 and was hospitalised in India for nearly two weeks. She returned to the US through Raleigh-Durham International Airport in February 2023.US authorities alleged that her extended absence showed she had abandoned her permanent residency. Vasamsetty disputed the allegation and submitted evidence of her continuing ties to the US. Wilson said she was also in the process of buying a home in North Carolina when she travelled to India and completed the purchase while there.Vasamsetty was placed in removal proceedings, but the Immigration Judge terminated the case in May 2026 after the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet a deadline to submit evidence supporting its case, according to Wilson.Vasamsetty continued to attend scheduled ICE check-ins even after the case was terminated. She was detained when she reported to the Charlotte ICE office on August 11.Her legal team filed an emergency habeas corpus petition on August 13 challenging her continued detention.