FILE PHOTO (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
LOS ANGELES – Lewelyn Dixon, a 64-year-old Filipino green card holder who has been a permanent US resident for 50 years, was detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while returning home to Seattle, Washington, from a trip to the Philippines.
“She was (in the Philippines) for like a couple of weeks. And then she returned on Feb. 28. And she was stuck in customs,” Dixon’s niece, Emily Cristobal, told Hawaii News Now.
“We got the news, I think it was March 2, that she got taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and then detained in the Northwestern detainment facility.”
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“We haven’t officially been told why she’s being held. They just keep saying that they’re waiting for documents,” added Cristobal, who works as the office manager for Hawaii State Rep. Tina Grandinetti.
Trump’s immigration policies
Grandinetti, a critic of Pres. Donald Trump’s immigration policies, has supported a bill to provide legal representation for immigrants in Hawaii.
READ: How Trump’s mass deportation plan will impact undocumented Filipinos
She recently shared Dixon’s story on the House floor and denounced her detention, describing it as “part of a broader attack on immigrants – an attack on our families, our friends, and our community as a whole.”
Grandinetti pushed for the passage of SB816, a bill that would provide state-funded legal representation for people going through immigration proceedings.
READ: Trump going berserk, targets birthright, naturalized citizens
“SB816 is a step toward protecting our community, and I’m so grateful to the Filipino Caucus for championing this important legislation. Let’s get it passed,” she said.
“The targeting of our immigrant community is not just something happening on our phones and TV screens,” she said on the House floor. “This is a reality that’s impacting our staff, our friends, our families and our loved ones.”
Detained at ICE site
The Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC), where Dixon is detained, is privately owned by the GEO Group and holds over 1,500 detainees, according to Newsweek.
Newsweek reported that it was able to confirm that Dixon was being detained at the ICE site.
Dixon “has a single conviction from 2001 that has triggered the issue,” her lawyer, Benjamin Osorio, told Newsweek.
Osorio said Dixon has been convicted for embezzlement “for which she received 30 days in a halfway house and a $6,400 fine. She was never ordered to serve any active time in a jail or prison. It was the travel that triggered the issue and if she had not traveled, she would not be removable from the United States.”
Dixon’s scheduled hearing is set for July 17, said Cristobal.