New Zealander Everlee Wihongi's sister has described the huge sense of relief after confirmation that the Kiwi has been released from immigration detention in the United States.
Everlee, 37, was detained by ICE while attempting to return to the US on a Green Card - or Permanent Resident Card - after a three-week holiday in New Zealand in early April, because of a 2016 cannabis conviction.
Her lawyer Marc Christopher confirmed on Saturday morning (NZT) that she has been released and is expected to be reunited with her family in the next few hours.
Everlee's sister Courtney Wihongi told RNZ their joy was enormous.
After initial confusion about whether today's scheduled hearing had gone ahead, they got the news and were able to make contact with Everlee over FaceTime.
"That's when it really hit. I can't even put into words how we are feeling right now," Courtney said.
"It's been a rollercoaster over the last 24 hours."
After more than two months at various detention facilities, Everlee Wihongi's lawyer said he had received a filing that would allow for her release. (Source: 1News)
Everlee was originally detained in California, but was later transferred to Arizona, and has now been released in Arizona. The family were planning to get her back home to Wisconsin in the next few days.
Courtney said her sister would need to do some healing after the experience and the conditions, including being housed in rooms with up to 60 other people at a time.
"At the moment she's so content to be out and to be free."
But: "It's no conditions that any human being should have to endure ... it's been terrible," Courtney said.
The family would also be breathing a sigh of relief that the fight was over, as work to monitor her situation and help progress Everlee through the US court system had taken a lot of energy.
"Every day I was contacting journalists, researching things, trying to reach out to different people that could possibly help, working with the legal team that we had. It was definitely no sleep and working on this 24/7 for the last two months.
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