PORTLAND (WGME) — Congresswoman Chellie Pingree inspected the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas Tuesday, alongside other members of Congress who call conditions at the facility “inhumane.”
Nineteen-year-old Olivia Andre has been held there for over six months, after her family was arrested by ICE while trying to seek asylum in Canada.
Nineteen-year-old Olivia Andre has been held there for over six months, after her family was arrested by ICE while trying to seek asylum in Canada. (Representative Chellie Pingree’s Office)
Andre is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was a first-year nursing student in Portland when she was taken into custody.
Pingree is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to release Andre and other families who are being detained at Dilley.
Other members of Congress called for the facility to be closed for good.
Pingree says Andre is one of many detainees who are struggling.
Nineteen-year-old Olivia Andre has been held there for over six months, after her family was arrested by ICE while trying to seek asylum in Canada. (Representative Chellie Pingree’s Office)
“So many of the conditions others have described, she experienced,” Pingree said. “She has been waiting two months to get her eyes checked, because she has chronic headaches. She has mental health issues. She doesn’t like the food. She feels lonely and isolated and very much separated from her family.”
CBS13 asked the Department of Homeland Security about Andre’s case.
Late last month, they said Andre is here illegally but didn’t explain why the rest of her family was released and she wasn’t.
Nineteen-year-old Olivia Andre has been held there for over six months, after her family was arrested by ICE while trying to seek asylum in Canada. (Representative Chellie Pingree’s Office)
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It’s unclear if and when Andre will be released, but Pingree says her office will continue to do everything it can to get her home.