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  "description": "I talk to Betty, who's daughter was taken by ICE.",
  "path": "/betty/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-21T00:58:53.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.webworm.co",
  "tags": [
    "FAQ",
    "ICE detention centres in Los Angeles",
    "Portland",
    "teargassed by masked goons in Minneapolis",
    "bought New Zealand Rail in 1993",
    "There is a GoFundMe",
    "webworm.co/betty",
    "The ICE Detention Centre Housing Everlee WihongiVisiting Everlee Wihongi, the New Zealander kidnapped by ICE, at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. David Farrier’s Webworm.Webworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier",
    "I Wired $20,000 To A LawyerUpdates on Anna Wilding and James Sved, Everlee Wihongi in ICE detention, Bethlehem Baptist Elders chaos, Flightless Bird’s Webby Win, and a Webworm New York meetupWebworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier",
    "The Anatomy of a Church MeltdownBethlehem Baptist in Tauranga has seen the resignation of senior pastors Craig Vernall and Michaela Vernall & youth pastor Michael Brown. David Farrier’s Webworm investigates.Webworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier",
    "Webworm Is Being Taken To Court (Again)James Sved is taking David Farrier of Webworm to court in California, after Farrier wrote about him and his partner Anna Wilding who is running for congress.Webworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier",
    "Fixing Brains With Magic MushroomsDavid Farrier’s Webworm visits the Raison Lab at the University of Wisconsin to talk to Dr Charles Raison, a psychiatrist who’s interested in psilocybin and how it can help fight depressionWebworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier",
    "Talking To My Hero: R. L. StineDavid Farrier talks to R. L. Stine, the legendary author behind the Goosebumps series.Webworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier"
  ],
  "textContent": "_****Webworm's public interest journalism is kept entirely free (and with zero ads) thanks to paying subscribers. If you pay for this work - thank you. If you have any questions about how Webworm works, please visit the****_ FAQ_****. If you have a story tip, I am always: davidfarrier@protonmail.com.****_\n\nHi,\n\nAs a New Zealander living in the United States under Donald Trump, it’s always a little blurry about exactly _how_ worried you should be about being snatched up by ICE.\n\nI've written about this a lot _. Webworm_ has reported from ICE detention centres in Los Angeles and Portland, and been teargassed by masked goons in Minneapolis an hour after ICE executed Alex Pretti.\n\nAnd then things feel like they _settle_. That they are _calming down_. No-one cares about little ol' New Zealand. _Maybe it's safe._\n\n**Then ICE snatches a New Zealander with a valid green card from LAX, and you realise _everything is still utterly fucked._**\n\nJump To Comments\n\nI spent my morning talking to Betty Wihongi, whose daughter has been kidnapped by ICE.\n\nBetty is a New Zealander who’s been living in the United States since the mid-90s. Her husband - a train driver - was poached by Wisconsin Central when it bought New Zealand Rail in 1993.\n\nThe couple moved to Wisconsin and set up a new life. And they’ve been living that life quite happily, raising their kids in the American midwest.\n\nOver the last few decades they’ve happily travelled to and from Aotearoa, New Zealand – keeping up with friends and family. There have never been any issues – until ten days ago, when ICE snatched her daughter Everlee, 36, when they came back through LAX.\n\n__Everlee is on the far left in the black t-shirt. Her mum Betty is fourth from the right, in the white top.__\n\nSince then, Betty and her family have been trying to figure out how to get Everlee out.\n\nToday, I’ve edited my conversation with Betty down to about 30 minutes, as she explains in detail about what happened when her family went through customs on their return from New Zealand, and how ICE treated them in the process.\n\nA Conversation with Betty, about ICE kidnapping her daughter.\n\n0:00\n\n/1558.671088\n\n1×\n\nShe talks about the pressure her daughter was put through to sign papers, and how Everlee is now detained with 46 other people in a room at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center – with no idea when she'll be free.\n\nShe talks about the logistics of keeping in touch, getting Everlee money, the uncertainty of the future, and the way her daughter has taken to caring for older, injured people she’s detained with.\n\n> \"There's an old, I think she's in her 70s, Vietnamese lady in there that can't walk properly. She must have fallen when she first came in, and she has a wheelchair that she kind of uses as a walker. Everlee and old people - they get on really well - so she's kind of looking after her.\"\n\nWe get into the possible reasons Everlee was detained: A stolen green card and a change of address meaning Everlee had to apply for multiple green cards _(apparently a crime now?)_ – and an old charge of possession of marijuana _(gasp!)_ that had already been dealt with. There are a million reasons running through her family's heads. Online, Everlee has been outspoken about the Palestinian genocide.\n\nSomehow, in all of this, her mum Betty still has a sense of humour.\n\n> _“If I get upset, she'll get upset. So I just have to not be upset.\"_\n\nI hope you listen to the conversation. There is a GoFundMe which I have contributed to – and depending on what's appropriate, I may make the three hour drive to the detention centre later this week.\n\nEverlee is yet to have a visitor.\n\n_David._\n\n****You can share this story:**** webworm.co/betty\n\n## More:\n\nThe ICE Detention Centre Housing Everlee WihongiVisiting Everlee Wihongi, the New Zealander kidnapped by ICE, at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. David Farrier’s Webworm.Webworm with David FarrierDavid FarrierI Wired $20,000 To A LawyerUpdates on Anna Wilding and James Sved, Everlee Wihongi in ICE detention, Bethlehem Baptist Elders chaos, Flightless Bird’s Webby Win, and a Webworm New York meetupWebworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier\n\n## **_Webworm_ 's Other Top Stories:**\n\n##\n\nThe Anatomy of a Church MeltdownBethlehem Baptist in Tauranga has seen the resignation of senior pastors Craig Vernall and Michaela Vernall & youth pastor Michael Brown. David Farrier’s Webworm investigates.Webworm with David FarrierDavid FarrierWebworm Is Being Taken To Court (Again)James Sved is taking David Farrier of Webworm to court in California, after Farrier wrote about him and his partner Anna Wilding who is running for congress.Webworm with David FarrierDavid FarrierFixing Brains With Magic MushroomsDavid Farrier’s Webworm visits the Raison Lab at the University of Wisconsin to talk to Dr Charles Raison, a psychiatrist who’s interested in psilocybin and how it can help fight depressionWebworm with David FarrierDavid FarrierTalking To My Hero: R. L. StineDavid Farrier talks to R. L. Stine, the legendary author behind the Goosebumps series.Webworm with David FarrierDavid Farrier",
  "title": "When Your Daughter is Kidnapped by ICE",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-26T23:55:23.605Z"
}