About 230 people attended a banquet in New York City’s Chinatown to celebrate the December 2004 exoneration of David Wong, a Chinese immigrant who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1983.
The David Wong Support Committee presented eight awards to those instrumental in the campaign –– civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, founder of the support committee; Wong’s legal team, comprised of lawyers Jaykumar Menon, William E. Hellerstein, and Daniel Medwed; private investigator Joe Barry, whom the committee hired to track down former inmates and prison guards; Sharon Julius, widow of the murder victim who testified to Wong’s innocence; New York Times reporter David W. Chen, who first broke the story; and the committee’s Plattsburgh chapter, who helped pack the courtroom during Wong’s trial.
Wong currently sits in a Homeland Security detention center near Buffalo, awaiting either release from prison or deportation. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has denied his request to be released pending deportation, saying he was both a flight risk and a threat.
Wong is now willing to be deported, according to support committee member Wayne Lum. “He’s shifted his focus,” Lum said. “He wants to leave the U.S. as soon as possible. His main concern has always been not to be in long-term detention. He doesn’t care if he’s released or if he’s even deported. He feels the INS won’t release him no matter what.”
Lum says the committee supports Wong’s personal decision, but not what he calls “racist and discriminatory immigration policy.”
“We still denounce these policies, but we support what David wants for himself,” Lum said.
