Christian Ally Moussa did not tell anyone that he had decided to get in a small boat to make the 350km (220-mile) trip across a treacherous stretch of the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the French island of Mayotte, reports BBC News.
He was desperate and he had made the risky crossing twice before.
He needed to return to the place from where he was deported a few weeks earlier as he was supposed to appear at a hearing about his application for French citizenship.
After years of saving to pay his legal fees, the 42-year-old hoped he would finally be able to claim the European passport that was his birth right.
He had the right to a passport as his father was a French citizen from Mayotte, a French overseas territory, 8,000km (5,000 miles) away from Paris. In almost every respect it is supposed to be treated like any part of mainland France.
But because Mr Moussa was born and raised in Madagascar, an island to the south of Mayotte, he had struggled to gain recognition as a French citizen.
He had been living and working in Mayotte on and off since 2004 without the correct paperwork, while, like many others, supporting his wife and children in Madagascar.
But a French passport would allow him to become a legal resident giving him greater opportunities.
Famous for its stunning coral reefs and lagoon, Mayotte is home to an estimated 300,000 people.
It is the poorest part of France yet wealthy compared to the neighbouring islands of Madagascar and Comoros, off the south-east coast of Africa.
With only weeks to go until his citizenship hearing, Mr Moussa was unexpectedly arrested by French immigration police and deported to Madagascar.
"[The police] barged in and wanted to take Christian away," his relative, who we are not naming for security reasons, says.
"He asked me to go and get his shoes but by the time I came back with them, they had already taken him."