BY VEENA RAO
Atlanta, GA, August 16, 2026: A longtime green-card holder and public school teacher detained by immigration authorities despite the termination of an earlier removal case could soon receive a bond hearing after the federal government acknowledged that recent court precedent would entitle her to one.
Venkata Narsamamba Vasamsetty, a lawful permanent resident since 2013 who has lived legally in the United States for more than 27 years, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a scheduled check-in in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 11.
Her attorneys filed an emergency habeas corpus petition the following day in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, challenging the legal basis for her detention.
In its response, the government pointed to a recent decision from the same federal court, B.A.M.A. v. Warden, and acknowledged that if the court follows its recent rulings, Vasamsetty would be considered detained under a provision of immigration law that entitles her to a bond hearing.
“Respondent acknowledges that should the Court follow its recent decisions, including B.A.M.A. v. Warden … Petitioner would be understood to be detained pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and entitled to a bond hearing before the immigration court,” the government said in its filing, according to Vasamsetty’s attorney Helen Parsonage.
The government asked the federal court to issue its standard order directing such a hearing and said it would be provided within seven days of the court’s order.
The development does not mean Vasamsetty has been ordered released. A federal judge must first issue the order, after which an immigration judge would consider whether Vasamsetty should be released on bond and under what conditions.
Parsonage called the development “one step closer to freedom.”
Seven-month trip led to immigration case
Vasamsetty’s immigration dispute dates to July 2022, when she traveled to India because her elderly parents were critically ill.
According to immigration attorney Zoe Ji Wilson, a friend and former colleague of Vasamsetty’s daughter, Yashaswini Vasamsetty, Vasamsetty contracted COVID-19 while in India and was hospitalized for nearly two weeks. Her return was delayed until February 2023, leaving her outside the United States for about seven months.
Upon her return, U.S. Customs and Border Protection took the position that she had abandoned her lawful permanent residence and placed her in removal proceedings.
Vasamsetty challenged that allegation and presented evidence that her trip was temporary and that her life remained rooted in the United States. Wilson said Vasamsetty was in the process of buying a North Carolina home as her primary residence at the time and completed the purchase while she was in India.
Wilson said DHS was given a deadline to submit evidence in the removal case but missed it. The immigration judge subsequently terminated the proceedings because DHS had failed to meet its burden of establishing that Vasamsetty was removable as charged.
According to Wilson, DHS later asked the immigration judge to accept its late filing, but the judge declined.
Detained at scheduled ICE check-in
While her immigration case was pending, Vasamsetty had been required to report periodically to ICE.
Despite the termination of the case, she appeared for a previously scheduled check-in at ICE’s Charlotte office on Aug. 11.
According to Wilson, ICE officers placed Vasamsetty in handcuffs and detained her without advance warning. Wilson said Vasamsetty has severe diabetes and did not have her insulin or other medical supplies with her when she was taken into custody.
Wilson also alleges that immigration authorities did not issue a new Notice to Appear — the document used to initiate removal proceedings — until the day after Vasamsetty was detained.
That new notice, Wilson said, is based on the same February 2023 return to the United States that formed the basis of the removal proceedings that had just been terminated.
If accurate, that chronology is likely to be an important part of the legal dispute over Vasamsetty’s detention. Her attorneys have turned to habeas corpus, a legal procedure that allows a person in custody to ask a federal court to require the government to establish the legal authority for holding them.
Vasamsetty was initially reported to be transferred to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. Wilson’s latest account says she is now detained in Lumpkin, Georgia.
Wilson described Vasamsetty as a public school teacher who works with special-needs children, a mother and grandmother with no criminal history.
The government’s latest filing does not concede that Vasamsetty’s detention was unlawful, nor does it order her release. Instead, it indicates that if the federal court applies its recent precedent, she would be entitled to have an immigration judge consider whether she can be released on bond.
The next step rests with the federal court. If it issues the order sought by the government, Vasamsetty is expected to receive a bond hearing within seven days.
