PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Congresswoman Maxine Dexter (D-03) is calling for the release of a Portland woman who remains detained by immigration authorities despite her removal proceedings being terminated, according to the lawmaker.

On Thursday, Rep. Dexter announced the case against Kenia Jackeline Merlos was terminated, stating the judge acknowledged there is no legal basis for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain or deport Merlos, who has a valid visa application pending.

“Despite the ruling that there is no legal basis for Jackie’s deportation, the government has reserved appeal, and ICE is cruelly continuing to detain her away from her U.S. citizen children,” Dexter said in a press release.

The case stems from June 28, when Merlos, her nine-year-old triplets and her seven-year-old son were traveling from their home in Portland to Peace Arch State Park at the U.S.-Canada border to see relatives, according to Merlos’s lawyer and family friends.

Because Merlos had pending immigration documents that were not finalized by the government, federal agents took the family into custody at a Customs and Border Patrol facility north of Bellingham, Washington where they were unable to seek legal counsel, according to Dexter. Merlos’s husband, Carlos, was also detained days later and taken to an ICE facility in Tacoma.

Dexter previously said she and her staff worked to determine the family’s whereabouts in July after discovering they were detained, noting they arrived in Bellingham and found where the family was being held after CBP “initially misled” them.

Dexter, along with Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, later secured an emergency court order to stop her deportation, allowing her children to be released and Merlos to access legal counsel.

In Thursday’s announcement that a judge terminated the case, Dexter claimed, “In July, when I saw Jackie Merlos and her four U.S. citizen children locked in a windowless cell—I thought, ‘If we allow this to become normal, we surrender who we are.’ Oregonians rose to the moment for Jackie and her family. Thanks to immense public pressure and a community that refused to stay silent, we not only stopped Jackie’s deportation and freed her children, but we also secured a ruling that there is no legal basis for ICE to detain or deport Jackie.”

“Oregonians should know we have power, and this moment is an exhibit of that. We must continue using our power to protect our neighbors and keep families together,” Dexter continued. “However, Jackie’s fight is not over. ICE’s decision to continue holding Jackie, even after a judge terminated her case, is a reminder of the perverse incentives fueling Trump’s for-profit immigration machine. I am calling for ICE to immediately release Jackie. We cannot rest until not just Jackie, but every family has access to justice. Now is the moment to stay loud.”

On Thursday, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told KOIN 6 News, “It’s outrageous that she was detained.”

KOIN 6 News has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol. This story will be updated if we receive a response.