Posted on 03/23/2025 6:41:26 PM PDT by Jyotishi
A former Hawaii resident, and longtime green card holder, is among those being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
HONOLULU (Hawaii News Now) -- Green card holders are officially Lawful Permanent Residents of the United States, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But being a resident of the United States is very different from being a citizen.
Lewelyn Dixon immigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii 50 years ago. She graduated from Farrington High School and has been working as a lab technician at the University of Washington.
Dixon was returning home to Seattle from a family trip to the Philippines.
“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.
“We got the news, I think it was March 2, that she go taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and then detained in the Northwestern detainment facility,” she said. “We haven’t officially been told why she’s being held. They just keep saying that they’re waiting for documents.”
Cristobal is also the office manager for state Rep. Tina Grandinetti, who’s pushing a bill to provide legal representation for immigrants in Hawaii.
“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.”
In her first term in office, Rep. Gradinetti is using her platform to fight the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown.
“Folks in the United States are guaranteed the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, but that applies only to criminal proceedings,” Grandinetti told Hawaii News Now. “And immigration proceedings are civil proceedings.”
Immigration attorneys said green card holders can be deported, but for cause.
“Now we’re seeing more and more people who are in detention who are green card holders ... and it’s usually for because of prior convictions,” said Neribel Chardon, the senior staff attorney for The Legal Clinic, a nonprofit that provides free or low-cost legal services to low-income refugees and immigrants in Hawaii.
Cristobal said her aunt didn’t become a citizen for family reasons in the Philippines, but has renewed her green card several times, most recently in 2022. If her aunt had some kind of record, they would have found it by now.
“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 Dixon’s earliest hearing date will be in July.
“Her life is here. Her life is in Washington and the U.S.,” Cristobal said.
There’s something important about the green card holder that is not being discussed. Something very important I daresay.
CC
Yup!
She’s probably a CCP agent.
Lots of them in Seattle and Portland.
Maybe we can trade the Hawaiian Islands for Canada? *SMIRK*
Something does not compute why she refused to get US citizenship. I got mine as soon as I became eligible to be naturalized.
Yeah, that’s what struck me, too. 50 years and never got naturalized? Must be something beyond “family reasons”.
There’s a lot left out of this story.
I wonder why.
Or is sympathetic to Filipino Muslim separatists.
CC
A green card friend still has family things to attend to back in India, so he hasn’t become a US citizen, yet, but his wife has been one for some years.
He’s a great guy, but he said he loses all legal abilities in India with his family, once he becomes an American.
India only allows one citizenship. The US should, as well.
No one should be able to vote in two countries.
“Filipino Muslim separatists”
Ah, thanks for solving the mystery — at least at the theory stage.
And, no, it doesn't appear she has broken any laws as she had a green card, stayed out of trouble, and continued to renew it as required by law.
I suspect there are still many employees at the middle levels within the government who are trying to sabotage Trump's agenda and make Homan look bad on this by orchestrating from the inside deportation cases that they know will backfire.
The same FReepers supporting this sort of ridiculous action against legal Green Card holders are the same ones claiming that Canada has never been an ally.
They forget about 9/11, Iran, Afghanistan, and the vast majority of US led military actions, with a FEW notable exceptions, like Viet Nam
I can bet he stays in USA because his life is better here. Tell me one advantage of retaining India citizenship. If he decides to move to India, it is easy to get repatriated.
Green card holders are NOT US citizens. They should be deported for any minor crime.
Did you even read the article? It appears that she has done NOTHING wrong, has followed every guideline for nearly 50 years, yet is being detained.
Blind obedience is often a guise for cowardice.
Perhaps.
I’d say that’s a probable theory, her being a CCP agent.
I read the article, and authorities are waiting for some documents. Keep in mind while this green card holder was detained, 100,000 green card holders entered USA during 2025 without detention.
What do you know? She was convicted of embezzlement in 2001. Funny they don’t mention that in the article.
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