Paroled 'Wah Mee Massacre' conspirator deported to Hong Kong

SEATTLE — A former Seattle-area man convicted of participating in one of Seattle's deadliest shootings was deported to Hong Kong Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Wai Chiu "Tony" Ng, 57, was escorted by ERO officers on a multi-segment commercial flight that left Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday morning and arrived at Hong Kong International Airport Wednesday night (local time). Ng had been held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma since his parole from Washington state prison in December.

Ng came into ICE custody after serving 28 years in prison. A condition in his parole order issued by the Washington Indeterminate Sentence Review Board called for his removal from the U.S. or return to state prison if he could not be deported. ICE was able to obtain the required travel documents from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, which paved the way for his removal.

According to court records, Ng and two other accomplices went to the Wah Mee Club in Seattle's International District in February 1983 where they robbed and shot 14 people, leaving 13 dead. Ng fled to Canada, but was deported to the U.S. by Canadian authorities in October 1984. U.S. immigration officials paroled Ng into the U.S. to face prosecution in King County. He was eventually convicted in July 1985 of 13 counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree assault. Ng was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

While he was in state prison, the federal government placed Ng in immigration proceedings and in 1997 an immigration judge ordered him removed from the country. Ng declined to appeal the order of removal, according to Department of Homeland Security records.

In fiscal year 2013, ICE conducted 368,644 removals nationwide. Eighty-two percent of individuals removed from the interior of the United States had previously been convicted of a criminal offense.

ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, such as those charged with or convicted of homicide, rape, robbery, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security. ICE also prioritizes the arrest and removal of those who game the immigration system including immigration fugitives or criminal aliens who have been previously deported and illegally re-entered the country.