Everlee Wihongi, a 37-year-old New Zealand woman who has lived in the United States since she was six and holds a green card, has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly six weeks. She was taken into custody at Los Angeles airport on 10 April after returning from a family trip to New Zealand.
A mother's ordeal
Betty Wihongi, Everlee's mother, has been vocal about the distressing conditions her daughter has faced. Speaking from her home in Wisconsin, where she has lived for nearly 30 years, Betty described the moment detainees are transferred between facilities: they must remove their uniforms and wear the clothes they were apprehended in. 'Everlee says you can tell what people were doing when they were apprehended by ICE. There are nurses in scrubs, road workers, pregnant mothers with children – all shackled,' she said. 'They’re not gangsters, they are not people causing trouble, they are just normal people who want a good life.'
Detention details
After a seven-hour wait at the airport, Wihongi called her family to say there was an issue with a historic conviction for marijuana possession, dating back more than a decade. She had travelled in and out of the US several times without incident and was not asked to declare the conviction on any of those trips. The family hoped for a quick release, but instead, she was sent to the Adelanto ICE processing facility in California.
During her month-long stay at Adelanto, Wihongi was housed in a room with 45 people for 22 hours a day. Guards would leave lights on at night and talk loudly outside. Betty claims Everlee witnessed guards telling a pregnant woman her baby would be taken away and adopted out after birth, and saw guards yelling at detainees who did not speak English.
Transfer and legal hurdles
On the day of her first video meeting with her lawyer, Wihongi was abruptly woken after midnight and told she was being transferred. She was not given a reason and was unable to meet her lawyer. She called her mother saying she was being moved to Texas or Arizona, then disappeared for three days. Her profile vanished from the ICE tracking website. 'We kicked up a big stink,' Betty said. 'We were very stubborn, but if she didn’t have us, she would be toast. Anyone in that facility that does not have a family member outside doing leg-work for them, or don’t have money, are screwed.'
Three days later, Wihongi contacted her family from the Eloy detention centre in Arizona, where she remains. Because of the transfer, her original immigration hearing date of 10 June became invalid, and no new date has been set. 'She’s back to square one,' Betty said.
Legal strategy and government plea
Wihongi's lawyer is seeking to have her original conviction vacated, arguing that her previous lawyer failed in his duties. The earlier lawyer did not inform Wihongi that pleading guilty could lead to deportation or loss of her green card. The lawyer has since been disbarred for lying to clients and forgery. 'Our lawyer wants to have the charges vacated because he says that is what is making her inadmissible to the US,' Betty said.
The New Zealand consulate has offered assistance and met with Wihongi, but Betty wants the New Zealand government to apply pressure. 'We’re not asking them to go in there and rip Everlee out, or to pay for anything. We’re asking them to put a little bit of pressure on the government here and ask ‘what are you doing?’, ‘why is one of our nationals being treated like this?’' The office for the minister of foreign affairs said New Zealand cannot influence other governments' immigration decisions. The Guardian has contacted ICE for comment.
