{"id":407739,"date":"2026-05-02T03:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/407739\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T03:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:01:08","slug":"government-urged-to-take-stronger-stand-over-kiwi-ice-detainee-everlee-wihongi-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/407739\/","title":{"rendered":"Government urged to take stronger stand over Kiwi ICE detainee Everlee Wihongi \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"

I whakaputahia t\u0113nei \u0101tikara e RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s immigration spokesperson says Foreign Minister Winston Peters is not doing enough to support New Zealander Everlee Wihongi, who is in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wihongi is a New Zealand citizen, but she has lived in the US for decades and holds a green card.<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said she was detained for not declaring a historic cannabis possession conviction when re-entering the US last month.<\/p>\n

But Labour\u2019s Phil Twyford, who spoke to her mother, Betty Wihongi, on Thursday, said she had travelled in and out of the US several times before without issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was poor form by Winston Peters to put the blame on Everlee as if she\u2019d done something wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen green card holders re-enter the US, they\u2019re not asked to fill out a form or declare historical convictions or anything else. They just enter the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being held at an ICE facility in California for three weeks, Everlee Wihongi\u2019s family said she still had not been told by the courts what her charges were.<\/p>\n

It would be another six-week wait before she faced a judge on 10 June.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s [Betty Wihongi] understandably very frustrated. She told me she\u2019s very angry about the situation,\u201d Twyford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been very distressing and upsetting for the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the New Zealand government should be advocating for Everlee Wihongi\u2019s release and for her to be told exactly what she was charged with.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother Betty told me she\u2019s had no indication MFAT [Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] has provided any practical assistance at all. There have just been a few phone calls asking how she\u2019s doing and how the family are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Doing what\u2019s possible\u2019<\/p>\n

Peters referred to previous statements from MFAT when approached for comment.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for his office said Everlee Wihongi\u2019s case was a \u201cconsular issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appropriate people using established diplomatic channels are doing what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, MFAT said in a statement to RNZ: \u201cWhile the New Zealand government is unable to influence the immigration decisions of other governments, MFAT continues to provide consular assistance to the family of a New Zealander detained in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe type of support available in these situations includes ensuring that New Zealanders have access to legal representation, advising family, and engaging with detention facilities where that is needed. For further information on how consular cases are supported please visit Safe Travel: You have been arrested or jailed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor privacy reasons, we are unable to comment on the details of any individual case.\u201d<\/p>\n

N\u0101 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I whakaputahia t\u0113nei \u0101tikara e RNZ Labour\u2019s immigration spokesperson says Foreign Minister Winston Peters is not doing enough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2027,917,23753,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-407739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-maori","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}