The release of a Philippines-born green card holder as ordered by a US judge after she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has spurred calls for stronger support from Manila amid fears of the roll-out of the largest deportation programme in American history.
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Lewelyn Dixon spent three months at an ICE detention centre in Tacoma, Washington state, after being apprehended on February 28 while returning to her home in Seattle following a trip to the Philippines.
Dixon’s lawyer, Benjamin Osorio, suspected her remand might have been triggered by an embezzlement conviction in 2001, for which she was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and fined US$6,400.
On Friday, an immigration judge in Tacoma ruled that the old judgment could not be used as a basis for Dixon’s deportation to the Philippines and ordered her release.
“The biggest thing to realise is she should have never been there in the first place,” Dixon’s niece, Emily Cristobal, said in a statement.
She should have never been there in the first place
US-based Filipino labour advocacy group Tanggol Migrante (Defend Migrants) Network said the verdict highlighted that Dixon’s strong character outweighed the potential reasons for deportation, and that robust family and community support had contributed to the cancellation of her removal.