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An immigration judge on Tuesday ordered that a Cary substitute teacher be granted bail from a rural Georgia ICE detention center.
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Venkata Vasamsetty, 59, has been in ICE custody since Aug. 11, after she was detained during an immigration check-in in Charlotte, The News & Observer reported.
The Department of Homeland Security accuses Vasamsetty of abandoning her green card when she left the U.S. between July 2022 and February 2023 to visit her sick father in India.
Over 50 family members, coworkers and friends of Vasamsetty attended her virtual bond hearing Tuesday morning. Immigration judge Chad Bayse set her bail at $7,500 Tuesday morning, determining DHS did not meet the burden of proof to show she was a flight risk.
Vasamsetty has lived in the U.S. since 1999 and obtained permanent residency in 2013. She has been a Wake County teacher since 2013 and currently substitutes for special-needs classes at Leesville Elementary School in Raleigh. Her family and attorney told The N&O she was not getting enough food or insulin to manage her Type 2 diabetes while in custody at the Irwin County Detention Center, allegations ICE denies.
DHS previously had a green card abandonment case against Vasamsetty dismissed in May after failing to produce evidence of the charge, according to documents her attorney, Helen Parsonage, provided to The N&O. The agency said it charged Vasamsetty with abandoning her permanent residency on Aug. 11.
At Tuesday’s bond hearing, DHS counsel Abby Cannon conceded that Vasamsetty was not a danger to the community. Still, she requested Vasamsetty be denied bail, relying on Vasamsetty’s Form I-213. A Form I-213 contains ICE’s allegations demonstrating why a noncitizen should be deported.
Cannon testified there were three reasons Vasamsetty was a “significant” flight risk:
ICE’s allegations against Vasamsetty in the Form I-213 were “demonstrably false,” Parsonage argued. She requested the court set bail at the minimum amount required.
Vasamsetty traveled back and forth between the U.S. and India to care for her parents — especially her father, who died in 2022 — as is custom for Indian families, Parsonage said. But Vasamsetty never intended to abandon her green card. Parsonage referred to evidence she submitted of Vasamsetty’s U.S. tax returns dating back to 2012 and the Cary house Vasamsetty owns with her daughter.
Cannon did not provide evidence of Vasamsetty owning an India-based business. Vasamsetty’s son, who lives in India, owns a therapeutics and medical treatments consulting firm with his mother, Parsonage said.
But the firm, Biological Resources Inc., is incorporated in North Carolina, Parsonage said. N.C. Secretary of State records show Vasamsetty incorporated Biological Resources in 2021. She remains the registering agent and president of the firm as of its annual report filed April 14, 2026.
Cannon did not elaborate on the “fraudulent” information Vasamsetty allegedly gave to the federal government. But Bayse, the immigration judge, asked Parsonage about allegations from the Form I-213 that Vasamsetty claimed her business was veteran-owned, even though neither she nor any family members served in the U.S. military.
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Vasamsetty checked a “veteran-owned” box on a form in error, Parsonage said. It was not deliberate, Parsonage said, and Vasamsetty received no benefit from checking the box.
Vasamsetty has no criminal record — not even a traffic ticket. Parsonage said (The N&O could not find records of criminal charges or traffic infractions filed against Vasamsetty). Her husband, two daughters and grandchildren all live in the U.S. along with multiple extended family members. Parsonage pointed to numerous letters of support, including a joint letter from Vasamsetty’s colleagues at Leesville Elementary.
Despite the dismissal of the first green card abandonment case against her, Vasamsetty attended two ICE check-ins in July and August, showing she was “chronically law-abiding,” Parsonage said. She has never missed a court hearing.
“I think we can all agree — including Mrs. Cannon — that Mrs. Vasamsetty is not a flight risk,” Parsonage said.
After Parsonage responded to DHS’s allegations, Bayse asked Cannon to respond. Cannon kept her remarks brief, reiterating DHS’s stance. While Cannon understood Vasamsetty was caring for her parents when she left for India, Cannon argued, “that’s not an excuse” for failing to meet her residency requirements.
Normally in immigration bond hearings, the burden of proof is on the person detained to prove they meet the conditions for bond, Bayse said.
But because Parsonage filed an emergency petition for a writ of habeas corpus — a petition alleging a person’s detention was illegal — the burden of proof was on DHS to prove Vasamsetty was a flight risk or a danger to the community. By the end of the hearing, Bayse remained skeptical of Parsonage’s request for minimum bail.
“Do you really think that would mitigate flight risk for a global traveler?” Bayse asked Parsonage.
Vasamsetty had never missed a court hearing, Bayse said. She had an address, employment and long-standing family ties in the U.S. Bayse concluded that DHS had failed to meet its burden of proof that Vasamsetty was a flight risk, setting her bail at $7,500.
A petition demanding Vasamsetty’s release had over 8,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning. State Sen. Jay Chaudhari, a Wake County Democrat, wrote Aug. 19 that he was working with members of Congress to secure her release.
U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat representing much of Wake County, called Vasamsetty’s detention illegal in a Friday Facebook post and said she was working toward Vasamsetty’s release.
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This story was originally published August 25, 2026 at 10:59 AM.