A Portland teenager who has been held in immigration detention in Texas since November is set to be released this week, according to her lawyers and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree.
In a written statement Wednesday evening, Pingree said a federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release 19-year-old Olivia Andre by Friday.
Olivia Andre and her family are Congolese asylum seekers. Her mother and younger siblings were released from the same facility in March.
But Todd Pomerleau, one of their attorneys, said the government kept Andre in custody even after a federal circuit court halted the family's deportation, pending an appeal.
"Is this what people want to pay taxes for?" Pomerleau said. "These aren't criminal illegal aliens, yet they were labeled the same by the government."
Andre's case has gained widespread attention in Maine and beyond as Pingree and others called on ICE to release her. Pingree met with Andre this week while conducting an oversight visit at the ICE detention center in Dilley, Texas, alongside fellow Democratic representatives.
Andre and her family were detained by U.S. border agents in New York in November after trying to seek asylum in Canada.
Her mother and younger siblings were allowed to return to Maine in March, while Andre remained detained.
In a written statement last month, an ICE spokesperson said Andre has a final order of removal and "no right to remain in the U.S." It's unclear why she remained in custody after her family was released.
