\u201cThen she cried some more because she was so happy,\u201d Betty said.<\/p>\n
She described the ruling as bringing an overwhelming sense of relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re moving in the right direction and getting Everlee back home.\u201d<\/p>\n
A US green card holder, Wihongi, 37, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on April 10 after returning from a trip to New Zealand to visit wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n
Betty previously told the Herald that border officers separated Everlee from her family<\/a> before transferring her to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre without explaining why she had been arrested.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s made us question why we\u2019re even here and if this is a country that we want to live in that can treat their people like that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Wihongi wh\u0101nau have lived in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin since immigrating in the 1990s, when Everlee was a child, Betty said.<\/p>\n Everlee is currently being held at the Eloy Detention Centre in Arizona, after initially being transferred to a facility in Adelanto, California.<\/p>\n Wihongi\u2019s legal team argued she accepted a plea deal in 2014 without being properly warned that it could affect her immigration status.<\/p>\n Her lawyer, Mark Christopher, told ThreeNews the judge agreed her defence attorney had failed in their duty to advise her of the potential immigration consequences and ordered the conviction be vacated.<\/p>\n The ruling came as a relief to the family, but Everlee\u2019s sister-in-law, Courtney Wihongi, told RNZ that repeated delays in securing a hearing had taken a heavy toll<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cICE has no reason to have Everlee detained as of right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was three iterations of three different court dates, so to finally, you know, have an answer and have the ruling be in our favour of the charge being vacated, it\u2019s huge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did our best as her family to try and keep her hopeful and to keep her spirits up, but from court date to court date, just not getting an answer, it was extremely hard for her, extremely frustrating.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hope that she did have it was, you know, it was fading, little by little, just with each court date.\u201d<\/p>\n Betty acknowledged the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, thanking staff for their assistance \u201cin spite of Winston Peters\u201d.<\/p>\n