Filipino green card holder who's been in US for 50 years detained by ICE
A Filipino green card holder was detained by US immigration as she was returning home from a trip to the Philippines.
Hawaii News Now reported that 64-year-old US resident Lewelyn Dixon was on her way home to Seattle from a family outing in the Philippines when she was stopped by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"She was there for like a couple of weeks. And then she returned on Feb. 28. And she was stuck in customs," said her niece Emily Cristobal.
Dixon, who immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines 50 years ago, was then confined in the Northwestern detainment facility. Her family only heard about the news days later on March 2.
"We haven’t officially been told why she’s being held. They just keep saying that they’re waiting for documents," Cristobal said.
She detailed that Dixon had renewed her green card several times—most recently in 2022. She argued that they would've known if her aunt had "some kind of record" about her citizenship.
"She had to undergo background checks to work in a state job in Washington, so that’s kind of the part of the missing puzzle piece that we don’t understand," Cristobal said. "Her life is here. Her life is in Washington and the U.S."
Dixon's lawyer, Benjamin Osorio, told Newsweek in an email that the 64-year-old had one conviction in 2001 for embezzlement that "triggered" her detainment.
"She received 30 days in a halfway house and a $6,400 (PhP367,000) fine," Osario said. "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."
Osorio also noted that Dixon has traveled outside of the US before without issue.
A green card is an identification document issued by the US government that allows the holder to live and work in the country indefinitely and eventually pursue citizenship.
Dixon's detainment took place amid US president Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants, in which he declared his intention to invoke a 1798 law called the Alien Enemies Act to target foreign gang members in the country. The said act, used in wartime, allows the president to detain or deport non-citizens considered an enemy of the US.
According to the news outlet, Cristobal is currently working under the office of Hawaii State Rep. Tina Grandinetti, who has been vocal about her displeasure with the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown.
"The targeting of our immigrant community is not just something happening on our phones and TV screens. This is a reality that’s impacting our staff, our friends, our families, and our loved ones," Grandinetti said.
Dixon is scheduled for a hearing in July.
Trump has insisted that undocumented migrants are disproportionately responsible for crime, despite research showing US citizens commit more offenses per capita.
After taking office, Trump declared a "national emergency" on the southern US border and signed an executive order stating that undocumented migrants present "significant threats to national security and public safety."
"Further exacerbating this national crisis, some of these aliens find safe havens from federal law enforcement detection in so-called Sanctuary Cities where they live and work among innocent Americans, who may later become their crime victims," it says.
