I am writing to ask for your support in the immediate release of Lewelyn Dixon, who was inhumanely detained after arriving home to Seattle from the Philippines in February 2025.

Dixon is a lab technician at the University of Washington and a permanent U.S. legal resident of over 50 years. After being held for two days at the airport without explanation, she was transferred to ICE’s custody and sent to the Northwest Detention Center.

Because of Dixon’s status as an "arriving alien," meaning someone who is applying to come into the U.S lawfully through a port-of-entry, she was not allowed a 'bail hearing’ and has to wait until July 17, 2025 for her first hearing. NWDC is notorious for neglecting the well-being of people detained at the facility especially in relation to health, food and working conditions. Dixon has already experienced this neglect as her medication was withheld by ICE after she was initially detained.

Lewelyn Dixon’s detainment comes in the context of the current administration’s attempts to blatantly crackdown on immigrants and villainize them as criminals. Lewelyn Dixon is a productive community member who has entrusted this country with her life, labor, and talents. With over 50 years of her life dedicated to service to the people here, She should be rewarded for her work. Instead, she has been criminalized and discarded simply for being an immigrant.

We cannot continue to allow federal immigration enforcement agencies to wield unchecked power against our communities.

I am asking that you do everything in your power to release Lewelyn Dixon from detention and ensure she can safely reunite with her loved ones and community. Her family has asked that at the very least, she is given an earlier court date to minimize her time in detention.