MI, USA -- A Kalamazoo man who had been detained for the past eight months by U.S. immigration officials arrived in the African nation of Ghana on Tuesday night, one day after being removed from the United States.

Henry Anakwa, 36, was arrested Jan. 7 and was held at the Calhoun County Jail because of issues surrounding his entry into the United States in 1994 and a marriage to a U.S. citizen that later ended in divorce.

Anakwa's wife, Cheryl, who has been married to Henry since 2002, said she was able to spend a few hours with her husband before he left Monday from Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

"It was really nice," Cheryl said. "I got to hug him and kiss him and hold him."

Cheryl said she and Henry spoke by phone after he arrived in Ghana. She said Henry is staying with members of his family and that she and the couple's children are planning to visit him "as soon as possible."

Cheryl Anakwa and Maia Storm, a Kalamazoo immigration attorney who took on Anakwa's case pro bono in April, are now working to file a waiver that would expedite Anakwa's return to the United States.

Storm said Cheryl is gathering letters of support that will be submitted with the waiver request. She said she is hopeful that the paperwork for the waiver will be filed within the next couple of weeks.

Cheryl and Henry, who worked as a computer specialist at the Kalamazoo Gazette, have two daughters, Amara, 2, and 7-year-old Keyana, Cheryl's daughter adopted by Henry after the couple married.