A known gang member arrested at a funeral home in Calgary was ordered deported almost four years ago, officials say.

Tran Trong Nghi Nguyen, who goes by the name Jackie Tran, was arrested on an immigration warrant Thursday night, police said.

'Criminals are not welcome here. We're doing everything we can to expedite this process.'—Lisa White, Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman

The warrant stipulates that he be deported out of Canada upon his arrest. Nguyen is a Vietnamese citizen.

Police said Nguyen was picked up at a funeral home in Forest Lawn at a viewing for Mark Kim, another gang member.

Kim, 23, was killed in a downtown alley on New Year's Eve. No arrests have been made in the case.

Nguyen ordered removed from Canada in 2004

Nguyen, who was a permanent resident, had a criminal record in Calgary that included two convictions for drug trafficking, so immigration officials issued a removal order for him on April 20, 2004.

"He was found inadmissible to Canada because of serious criminality," Lisa White, spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, explained Friday.

Nguyen appealed the order, and that allowed him to temporarily stay in Canada.

The appeal process was then stalled because Nguyen had outstanding criminal proceedings in Calgary that had to be dealt with first, White said.

Officials trying to expedite deportation

Those concluded on Thursday, which cleared the way for Nguyen's immigration hearing, to which he did not show up.

"We were able ... to provide enough evidence to satisfy the [Immigration and Refugee Board] that Nguyen continues to be a danger to the public, and as a result of that the IRB dismissed his appeal," White said, adding that an arrest warrant was then issued to enforce the deportation order.

Once Nguyen is transferred from Calgary police custody to the CBSA, there will be a review of his detention before he can be deported.

"It's our priority to remove criminals from Canada as soon as possible. Criminals are not welcome here. We're doing everything we can to expedite this process," White said.

She said the CBSA does not disclose the locations to which people are deported because of privacy and safety concerns, but the options include the country where they last lived or the country of their citizenship.