Green Card holder arrested at airport, flown around US, ‘shackled’

Everlee Wihongi, a New Zealand citizen and U.S. green card holder, was detained by immigration authorities after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on April 10.

A green-card holder was detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last month upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport after she returned from vacation with her family.

Everlee Amelia Wihongi, a citizen of New Zealand and lawful permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody on April 10 after immigration agents identified a prior felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance during inspection, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek.

Public court records from Wisconsin identify a 2014 case involving Everlee Amelia Wihongi in Fond du Lac County, where she was convicted of possession of THC, NZ Herald reported. DHS said that the conviction rendered her inadmissible under federal law.

“Possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right,” a DHS spokesperson told Newsweek. “Under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. In addition to immigration removal proceedings, lawful permanent residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention.”

Newsweek has contacted the family for comment.

Everlee Wihongi, a New Zealand citizen and U.S. green-card holder, was detained by immigration authorities after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on April 10, 2026.
Everlee Wihongi, a New Zealand citizen and U.S. green-card holder, was detained …Read More | GoFundMe
Wihongi, 37, moved to the United States with her family when she was 6 and holds a green card, her mother, Betty Wihongi, told New Zealand news outlet RNZ. It reported that the family traveled to New Zealand in March for an uncle’s 80th birthday.

Following her detention, Wihongi was transferred between multiple facilities across the United States, according to RNZ.

In a diary of events shared with RNZ, Everlee Wihongi’s sister-in-law, Courtney Wihongi, described a multi-day transfer in which she was “shackled for hours,” kept awake during transport and at times not given food.

Her mother, Betty Wihongi, told RNZ that she did not know where her daughter would ultimately be held after she was moved out of a California facility to a Texas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center without notice, leaving the family searching for answers.

Betty Wihongi said one such transfer caused her daughter to miss a scheduled legal meeting because her lawyer had not been informed she was being moved. Family members said the repeated transfers have complicated access to legal counsel and disrupted court proceedings.

Webworm reported that Everlee Wihongi was later listed in ICE’s detainee locator system as being held at the Eloy Federal Contract Facility in Arizona after being moved from Camp East Montana.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Everlee Amelia Wihongi had not declared a prior conviction on her immigration paperwork. He said that the case is a matter for U.S. authorities and that New Zealand is unable to intervene in another country’s immigration decisions. He said consular officials are providing assistance to the family.

“When the form asks you to do things, complete the form accurately,” he said. “This is going through a process internationally. The process has got to be followed. We cannot intervene. We can do our best to help, but that’s all we can do.”

DHS said that Wihongi was placed in removal proceedings and will remain in ICE custody.

Under the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy, federal authorities have repeatedly emphasized that lawful permanent residency can be revoked. Officials have said permanent residents with prior criminal records may face detention and removal proceedings, even for relatively minor or decades-old offenses, and reports indicate an increase in green-card holders being detained.