Hong Kong resident David Wong Kin-chin has finally returned home for his first taste of freedom after languishing in American jails for nearly 20 years for a murder he did not commit.
Mr Wong, 43, and his supporters across the US had been counting down to his release this week since he was held at a detention centre as an illegal immigrant last December after being acquitted on a murder charge.
Wayne Lum Shi-wing, spokesman for the David Wong Support Committee, said the swift deportation took everybody by surprise.
'The past 24 hours were just chaotic, we couldn't believe it would happen so quickly,' he said. 'David had to pack and board a plane to Hong Kong right away. The immigration officers didn't allow him to make a last phone call to inform us or his family in Hong Kong. Eventually, David asked one of the inmates to call us after he was taken away, then a supporter in Toronto broke the news to David's mother in Hong Kong, who tried to get prepared to pick him up at Hong Kong airport.'
Mr Wong left Hong Kong for the US in the early 1980s to work at a restaurant in New York's Chinatown. He was jailed in 1984 for trying to rob a restaurant owner.
He was framed for murder while in prison.
Mr Lum complained about the lack of transparency over the deportation.