Judge orders DHS to release Maine teen from Texas facility

PORTLAND (WGME) – A Portland woman who has been held in a Texas ICE facility for more than six months is reportedly set to be released by Friday.

That’s according to Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who traveled to the facility this week to demand that ICE release 19-year-old Olivia Andre.

Pingree says a federal district court judge ordered Andre to be released no later than Friday.

Andre and her family were arrested by ICE when they were seeking asylum in Canada.

DHS previously said Andre is in the United States illegally but didn’t explain why the rest of her family was released and she wasn’t.

Pingree called the conditions at the facility inhumane, and Andre’s lawyer says her physical and mental wellbeing deteriorated from not having access to clean drinking water, palatable food and appropriate medical care.

“Olivia and her family should never have been detained. The federal court ordered her release because the Trump administration had no lawful basis for detaining her,” Pingree said. “She suffered in detention for six months in violation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution’s protections.”