I whakaputahia tēnei ātikara e RNZ.
The lawyer for a New Zealand woman detained by immigration authorities says she could be released in two days.
Everelee Wihongi is a green card holder who has lived in the states for decades.
The 37-year-old was detained by ICE while attempting to return to the US on a Green Card - or Permanent Resident Card - after a three-week holiday in New Zealand in early April, because of a 2016 cannabis conviction.
The court has thrown out the conviction.
Wihongi’s lawyer Marc Christopher told TVNZ’s Breakfast she will be released in the next two days if everything goes well.
“As of yesterday, we have received filing from the federal government indicating that they are willing to drop her case and she should be released, hopefully, within the next two days if everything goes well, ”
Christopher said the filing has been submitted to the court and “we are simply waiting for the judge’s signature and then she will be released.”
Wihongi had been living in Wisconsin, legally, where she had been training to be a welder.
She returned to New Zealand for three weeks to celebrate a family milestone - an uncle’s 80th birthday - flying back to the States on April 10.
After her initial detention at the LA Airport, Everlee was taken to an ICE processing centre in Adelanto, north east of Los Angeles, before being moved to another facility in Arizona.
Nā RNZ.
