‘Aunty Lynn is coming home.' Pierce County woman detained by ICE to be released
A Tacoma-based immigration judge ruled Thursday that a Pierce County resident who had been detained by ICE after living in the United States as a permanent resident for 50 years should not be deported to the Philippines.
Relatives of 64-year-old Lewelyn Dixon cried and clapped after Judge Tammy Fitting made that ruling in a courtroom within the Northwest ICE Processing Center, where Dixon has been detained for months.
Dixon, wearing a yellow and white uniform, told reporters her time in the facility had been 'hell,' before she went back into the bowels of the federal immigration lockup to be processed and released.
Outside, one of Dixon's nieces, Melania Madriaga, said Thursday's hearing was nerve wracking, and hearing the judge rule that Dixon could remain in the United States made her emotional.
'It's painful, the fact that we have to go through this,' Madriaga said.
Madriaga traveled from her home in Hawaii to be at her aunt's immigration hearing. She and about 15 other people were in attendance.
Outside the facility, more than a hundred people rallied to support them. Madriaga said she'd asked organizers to play music by Bruno Mars when Dixon was released. She said her aunt bought concert tickets for this week's show in Las Vegas, Nevada before she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After the hearing, a person told the crowd of people gathered in the street, 'Aunty Lynn is coming home.' The news drew cheers and applause. Some people beat on drums or waved flags. Dixon was expected to be released by 5 p.m.
Dixon, a lab technician for the University of Washington, was detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after she returned to the United States on Feb. 28 from a trip to the Philippines. Her attorney, Benjamin Osorio, has said she was detained due to a nonviolent criminal conviction from 2001.
Dixon immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines at age 14 and moved to Washington in the 1990s, according to family members. She's been employed with UW Medicine since 2015.
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