Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old nursing student from Portland, has returned home after nearly six months in federal immigration detention in Texas.
In an emotional scene at the Portland Jetport late Friday night, Andre reunited with her mother and younger siblings, and a crowd of friends and supporters.
"Seeing them all over here, it means everything for me, actually. Thank you very much to everybody to be here. It was hard, but it's already passed, because I am back home," she said.
Andre said it had been hard leaving her fellow detainees behind at the ICE detention center in Dilley.
"Today when I was leaving Dilley in the morning most of them were crying, and [excited] for me too because we been there together helping each other," she said.
A federal judge this week ordered ICE to release Andre.
Andre and her family, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were detained by U.S. border agents in November after trying to seek asylum in Canada.
ICE released Andre's mother and younger siblings from the same facility in March, and it's unclear why Andre was not freed with them.
