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Qing Hong Wu, 29, was officially pardoned on Saturday but he was released from detainment in a New Jersey correctional facility Tuesday night.

Wu, pictured above center, came to the United States when he was five years old.

When he applied to be married to a U.S. citizen several years ago, he disclosed that had been convicted of robbery in 1995 and 1996.
He served three years in a reformatory for those crimes.

Wu had earned his GED in the reformatory and went on to get his associate’s degree and had a career in information technology.

According to immigration laws, Wu's convictions required deportation. As a result, Wu was taken into federal custody, where he remained from November until Tuesday night.

Since Wu had no involvement with the criminal justice system since he was released from the reformatory, he received support from Judge Michael Correrio, who had originally sentenced him years ago.

“This young man has really been a model for other young men who can improve their lives,” said the now-retired judge. “My only hope is that we can find mechanisms that will help remove the indelible stigma of childhood convictions on young men who can demonstrate, after an appropriate time, that they can lead a good, constructive life.”

In his pardon, Paterson said Wu had paid his debt to society and risen above his past mistakes.

“It’s a wake-up call and I’m going to continue my schooling and hope to become an American citizen,” Wu said during a news conference in Kips Bay, Manhattan today. "I want to be a citizen, I feel American, I have been here all my life. I don't know anything other than being in the U.S."

"I'm very grateful to have him home again," said Chang Juan Wu, the mother of the released detainee, through an interpreter.

Federal immigration officials will have the final say on whether Qing Hong Wu can remain in the United States.