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Pingree Calls on ICE to Release Mainer Indefinitely Detained in Texas Detention Center

Washington, April 16, 2026

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is calling on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately release Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old student who has been detained in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas since November. In a letter to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, Pingree questioned the legal basis for Andre’s continued detention, as no explanation has been given to Andre or her legal counsel. 

“ICE has failed to provide any clear, written explanation for why she alone continues to be detained. This lack of transparency, especially to Ms. Andre and her legal counsel, is unacceptable and indefensible,” Pingree said. 

Andre and her family are asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and have been living in Portland, where Andre was a first-year nursing student. The rest of her family—mother Carine Balenda Mbizi; brother Joel Andre, 16; and sister Estafania Andre, 14—were released from the Dilley Processing Center last month. 

Pingree’s letter comes amid reports of deplorable conditions at ICE detention centers, particularly at the Dilley facility, where detainees have reported severe lack of medical care, inadequate access to food, water, personal hygiene, and basic care. Andre has reportedly lost over 20 pounds since being detained. Her mental health has suffered as a result of detention and unnecessary family separation, writing in a letter to Pingree that she feels “lost, alone, and many times feel like I no longer have the strength to keep going.”

This inhumane treatment is causing real long-term trauma for detainees—especially young people and children, who are particularly vulnerable to long-term psychological and developmental harms. 

“ICE’s failure to provide counsel with the basic grounds of her ongoing detention reflects a serious breakdown in process and raises profound due process concerns,” Pingree continued. “When the government deprives someone of their liberty, it should at the bare minimum be able to clearly state why. Here, ICE has failed to do that.”

“ICE is not free to detain individuals without explanation,” Pingree said. “Every additional day that passes without a clear explanation only deepens my belief that this detention lacks any lawful or articulable basis.”

The full letter is available here and is copied below.

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Dear Acting Director Lyons and Field Office Director Vergara,

I write to request a clear and immediate explanation of the legal basis for Olivia Andre’s continued detention and to call on your agency to promptly release her from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
 
Ms. Andre remains in ICE custody despite her mother and two siblings, who were detained with her, being released. ICE has failed to provide any clear, written explanation for why she alone continues to be detained. This lack of transparency, especially to Ms. Andre and her legal counsel, is unacceptable and indefensible.
 
Even more troubling, Ms. Andre’s attorneys have repeatedly requested this information in conjunction with requests for her release and have not received any response. ICE’s failure to provide counsel with the basic grounds of her ongoing detention reflects a serious breakdown in process and raises profound due process concerns. When the government deprives someone of their liberty, it should at the bare minimum be able to clearly state why. Here, ICE has failed to do that.
 
To my knowledge, ICE has not made, or at the very least has not communicated, any individualized custody determination in Ms. Andre’s case. If such a determination does exist, ICE must explain the specific statutory or regulatory authority it is relying on, identify the individualized factors it claims justify her continued detention, and explain why that information has been withheld from her legal representatives despite repeated requests.
 
If no such determination exists, and I have difficulty imagining there is, then ICE must explain on what basis Ms. Andre remains in custody at all, particularly when a federal court has issued a stay of removal in her case.
 
Holding a 19-year-old student in indefinite detention when she cannot be removed from the country and doing so without clearly articulating or communicating a lawful justification, raises serious concerns about arbitrary detention and is a failure of accountability.
 
ICE is not free to detain individuals without explanation. Every additional day that passes without a clear explanation only deepens my belief that this detention lacks any lawful or articulable basis. I expect a prompt response.

Sincerely,

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