Teen says judge’s order for her release from immigration detention had her family screaming with joy

Olivia Andre, 19, has been held at the Dilley immigration facility in Texas for nearly two months after her family was released. A judge said she must be freed.

Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old woman from Congo who remains detained in ICE custody in Texas despite her family’s release in March, said she was “in shock” and overjoyed about a judge’s order for her release by Friday.

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“I couldn’t believe it. I started crying, shaking,” Andre said Thursday in her first interview since she learned about the judge’s order. She has been detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas for about six months. “I was so happy.”

On Wednesday, a federal district court in San Antonio ordered Andre’s release from the facility no later than Friday, according to court documents. The court found that Andre’s right to due process was violated and that her detention was unlawful. She will join her mother, brother, 16, and sister, 14, in Maine upon her release.