A Portland teenager who spent the last six months in ICE custody returned to Maine on Friday night.
Friends and family greeted Olivia Andre, 19, at the Portland Jetport just after 11 p.m.
“When I talked with my attorney, I was just in shock and thankful,” Andre said.
“The family is very happy, but the process was long. A lot of hands were put on it to get the result we have today,” Andre family sponsor Douglas Mpay said.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hannah Pingree were among those who welcomed Andre home.
Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered Andre’s release from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.
The facility has been the scene of protests since President Donald Trump’s enhanced immigration operations began.
Andre had spent more than six months there after her family was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in November while trying to seek asylum in Canada.
ICE released other members of Andre’s family in March but kept Andre without explaining why she was still held.
Chellie Pingree says the judge’s order came just hours after she and fellow members of Congress visited the Dilley ICE facility where Andre was held.
“When I was leaving Dilley in the morning, most of the others were crying and excited for me too because we have been there together helping each other,” Andre said.
Andre, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was a first-year nursing student in Portland when she was taken into custody.
In a statement after Andre’s release, Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS 13 that she is in the country illegally.
“The facts of this case have not changed; Olivia Mabiala Andre is an adult illegal alien with a final order of removal and no right to remain in the United States,” they wrote. “Despite receiving full due process, this activist judge is releasing an illegal alien onto American streets.”
