A New Zealand woman spent 73 days locked up in the US over a conviction that was later thrown out

New Zealand citizen Everlee Wihongi has described dehumanising conditions during more than 70 days in US immigration custody, after being detained over a cannabis conviction that was later thrown out by the courts.

Wihongi, 37, moved to the United States when she was six years old and holds a US green card, which means she is allowed to live and work there permanently. She was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — known as ICE — in Los Angeles on 10 April after returning from a family trip to New Zealand, according to The Guardian. She was released on 19 June after 73 days in custody, per WSWS.

The detention was based on a 2016 cannabis conviction that was quashed, meaning overturned, by the courts in June. Wihongi told RNZ that the experience was defined by conditions she described as dehumanising. At her first facility in California, detainees had to get up at 6am for breakfast. After she was moved to Arizona, that shifted to 3.45am. Anyone who missed the morning meal got no food until lunchtime, around 1pm.

Wihongi was first held in California before being moved to Arizona. During the trip between the two, she spent a night on the floor of a holding facility in Texas. She said she saw other detainees being taken off a plane, including children in shackles, a pregnant woman, and elderly people being marched in a way she compared to herding animals.

Staff at the ICE facility called Wihongi by her bunk-bed number, "Six Up," instead of her name.

Wihongi directly contradicted Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters' claim that she was detained for failing to declare her old cannabis conviction. She said she was never given any declaration forms to fill in.

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or MFAT, provided consular help during the detention. That is the practical support a government gives its citizens when they are in trouble overseas. Staff from the Los Angeles consulate brought Wihongi New Zealand chocolate and helped her get back her passport, green card, and driver's licence.

Wihongi's sister-in-law said the overturning of the 2016 conviction was a huge relief, RNZ reported.

The wider picture here is that this case raises several tricky issues for the relationship between New Zealand and the United States. Peters said publicly that Wihongi was detained because she did not declare her conviction, but Wihongi says she was never given forms to declare anything. That gap matters because it calls into question what the Minister based his public comments on. MFAT did help recover Wihongi's documents, but that help came while a New Zealand citizen was locked up for months over a conviction the courts were already reviewing.

There is also a question about timing. Wihongi was detained in April, but her conviction was not overturned until June, and she was released on 19 June. That gap raises questions about how ICE's processes line up with what courts decide, and how much a consulate can actually speed things up when immigration authorities are holding someone based on a conviction still being challenged in court. Wihongi's account of conditions in custody and transit, including being called by a number instead of her name, adds to existing reporting on ICE facility standards that has already drawn attention from US lawmakers and rights groups.

For New Zealand, the case shows the real limits of consular help when a citizen who also holds a US green card is caught in America's federal immigration system. MFAT can visit, speak up for the person, and recover documents, but it cannot control the immigration authority or the court's timeline.