ICE releases health worker arrested at airport despite living in the U.S. legally for 50 years

After three months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, a Filipino green-card holder who had been arrested at Seattle-Tacoma Airport has finally gone home.

Lewelyn Dixon, a 64-year-old University of Washington lab technician, was released on Thursday from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, after a judge ruled that she does not qualify for deportation.

Dixon, who’s had legal permanent status in the U.S. for 50 years, had been in ICE custody since late February, when she was detained after coming back from a visit to the Philippines.

Outside the detention facility, Dixon thanked a crowd of supporters and spoke about her experience and the conditions in the facility.

“It was horrific; it was awful, it is crowded — super crowded, they release maybe nine, bring back seven, release one, they bring three,” she said, according to local NBC affiliate King5.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted a federal judge who found that the Trump administration “unquestionably” violated a court order by sending deportees to South Sudan. “The president and this administration hope the Supreme Court does what it needs to do reign in these liberal activist judges.”

Dixon’s niece Lani Madriaga told NBC News that in the hours since her release, she’s been spending time with loved ones.

“Last night, we had dinner together as a family and just chatted,” Madriaga said on Friday. “She’s just getting readjusted.”

Benjamin Osorio, Dixon’s attorney, previously told NBC News that a decades-old embezzlement conviction likely caught the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the airport, triggering her detention.

Dixon had been a vault teller and operations supervisor at Washington Mutual Bank at the time and “removed cash from the vault on eight separate occasions” without the bank’s authorization, according to her plea agreement. She removed a total of $6,460.

While Dixon pleaded guilty to the nonviolent offense in 2000, she was ordered to pay restitution and spend 30 days in a halfway house, court documents show. By 2019, she completed her payments.

Dixon has been in the U.S. since she was a teenager and has long been eligible for citizenship, but she promised her father that she would maintain her Filipino nationality so that she could retain property in her native country. However, Osorio said, Dixon likely did not understand the risk involved with staying on a green card.

Madriaga said the ordeal has been emotional for her aunt, but it’s also given her a renewed purpose in helping detainees. During her time in ICE custody, Dixon attempted to help others navigate the immigration and court system, Madriaga said. Dixon plans on staying in touch with the detainees at the Tacoma facility, with whom she said she grew close.

“I don’t think it’s going to stop her from helping others, even though she’s been out,” the niece said.

The case has been shocking for her family, particularly because Dixon had kept her conviction a secret from them.

“We don’t think her any different after we found out about her conviction,” Madriaga said. ”She turned it all around and … she really worked hard and really focused on health care, where it’s really about helping the community.”

In fact, Madriaga said, Dixon plans to head back to work soon. In the meantime, Dixon’s first priority is obtaining her citizenship.

Dixon is among several other green-card holders who have been detained amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. Earlier this month, Maximo Londonio, 42, was also detained at an airport in Seattle after coming back from vacation with his family. Londonio, a green-card holder, was likely detained due to previous nonviolent convictions, his family members believe.

Another legal permanent resident, Fabian Schmidt, was detained in March after being arrested at the Boston Logan International Airport. The German national, who had a previous misdemeanor marijuana conviction, was released in May, after he filed a motion to terminate the immigration proceedings. 

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