In early October, after 43 years behind bars for a murder he apparently did not commit, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam was ordered released.

But a day later, before he had even set foot outside the Pennsylvania prison where he has lived for decades, Vedam was taken into ICE custody. Now Vedam, 64, is on the verge of being sent back to a country he last lived in as an infant.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cited a 1988 deportation order for the murder conviction and a drug crime in justifying his detention and deportation. Vedam’s exoneration for murder did not clear his drug conviction.

His family members, including a niece, are devastated by the likelihood that they will lose Vedam yet again.

"All we want is for him to be home with us and to be able to move forward in life," Zoë Miller-Vedam told USA TODAY from her home in California.