'It's good to be home': Wrongfully convicted deportee begins a new chapter

A family in California has been reunited after 20 years when a wrongful conviction sent a young man to a country he barely knew — the Philippines.

Gideon Baena fought his case all the way to the California Superior Court which overturned his conviction, deeming it unconstitutional. Then his legal team went to the Department of Homeland Security, petitioned for his case

to be reopened and for his status as a green card holder to be restored.

Baena returned home this week and spoke with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes in an exclusive interview, along with his attorney, Shan Potts.

On the confusion of being deported from the U.S.

"My family barely knew what was going on because they were in California. They had me down in Arizona, and then they put you on a plane and just going to drop you off at the airport. And that was it. And back then, communication was a lot harder because they didn't have internet or barely have internet here in the Philippines."

On arriving in the Philippines where he knew no one

"I kind of just stood there. I barely have any family in Manila. Just all my family came to the U.S. Most of them were citizens. I didn't even know I wasn't a citizen. But I just kind of stood there at the airport. I was homeless for almost a year."

"I barely spoke the language, to be honest. Tagalog, which was our language, it was kind of hard for me to communicate... It's hard being in a country all alone and you don't speak the language."

On seeking legal support

"My family started in 2005, and I went from lawyer to lawyer, but nothing happened with those. It wasn't really until about two years ago, I was going through the internet and I saw a video of Shan. It was a video about one of his clients. He fought for them, and right there and then, I was like, 'I'm going to hire this guy. If he can't do it, then nobody can.'"

On being back in U.S.

"I couldn't believe it. To be honest, I still can't believe it now. I know one thing; this is all possible because of Shan. He fought for me all the way."

"Just trying to think of how I'm going to put my life together again after so many years."

On reconnecting with family in the U.S.

"I want to spend as much time before going off finding work. I kind of just want to spend a few weeks with family, just going from family to family, letting them know I'm home."

"My mom, she's been there from the very beginning. It's kind of hard because, of course, she's getting older. But to reconnect especially with my parents after so many years, really, it's hard. They barely know me."

Ashley Locke produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Grace Griffin adapted it for the web.