Irish citizen Donna Hughes-Brown, who had been held by immigration authorities in the US for almost five months, has said it is fabulous to be free but she is still feeling a bit overwhelmed since her release last week.
Ms Hughes-Brown was apprehended by a customs official at Chicago airport when returning from a trip to Ireland on 29 July.
A green card holder, Ms Hughes-Brown has lived in the US since she was 11 years old.
The 59-year-old was brought to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Kentucky, a six-hour drive from the family home in Bowling Green, Missouri.
Her arrest came after US President Donald Trump amended the Immigration and Nationality Act as part of his so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act'.
It stipulates that any foreign-born resident of the US who has violated any law whatsoever at any stage over the previous two decades can be deemed inadmissible or barred from entry to the US.
"My case is done but there are so many folks that are facing similar situations"
Ms Hughes-Brown's court record showed she had signed two cheques - totalling less than $80 - while overdrawn on her account, during a period of personal difficulty in 2015. A court hearing last Thursday ruled that Ms Hughes-Brown should be freed.
Her legal team had over 30 character witnesses ready to testify and a letter signed by 18 US senators stating she should not be detained. The ruling came shortly after the first character witness.
"It's fabulous but I can't help thinking of everyone else who is still waiting for a decision and need people to advocate for them," she told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"Knowing that I was fortunate, but nothing has really been resolved so there's a lot more work to be done. My case is done but there are so many folks that are facing similar situations," she added.
She said she was "absolutely floored" when she discovered it was in relation to two cheques that had bounced over ten years ago.
"Thirteen years ago I wrote a cheque to a grocery store," she said, "and subsequently found out that it was not honoured."
"I then went to the grocery store and made good on the cheque. However, the cheque had already been given to the Sheriff's office and I still had to face the judge," she explained.
"Later, in 2015, when I was getting through a bad situation, unbeknownst to me someone had taken money from my account and a $25 cheque to a gas station was not honoured.
"These were not large amount cheques. They were not cheques that were intended to defraud anybody. But, regardless of my intent, the end result was that neither cheque was honoured," she said.
"The food was horrific. I have certain food allergies and they didn't seem to make much matter for that. We would go without toilet paper"
Conditions at the facility in Kentucky were "not ideal", Ms Hughes-Brown said.
"It had not been an ICE centre for very long," she said, "and there were a lot of issues going on because they were not used to having ICE detainees.
"It was dirty. There were all kinds of bugs in the holding cells when we first got there. There was faeces on the wall. They gave us mats that hadn't been cleaned. And it smelled. It smelled really, really bad," she said.
"The food was horrific. I have certain food allergies and they didn't seem to make much matter for that. We would go without toilet paper. The showers and the sinks and toilets would stop working and it would take anywhere from four to five days to several weeks to get them fixed."
"My faith in God and knowing my family in the US and Ireland were fighting for me ... kept me going"
Ms Hughes-Brown said her lowest moment came when she realised she would be there for some time.
"Initially, I thought I would be out after a couple of weeks, but then I discovered the court date on my paper was incorrect and when I did get to court, I was told that I would have to remain in custody."
She said the thought of being deported "scared the bejaysus" out of her.
"My faith in God and knowing my family in the US and Ireland were fighting for me, knowing that there was so much advocacy for me, kept me going," she said.
"We have incurred a lot of bills as a result of this," she added, "there are the legal fees, the travel fees, the commissary fees to keep me with things like soap and shampoo."
Becoming emotional, she said that her husband, Jim, had spent a lot of time and money travelling to visit her - even though he often wasn't able to see her.
There is also a huge emotional toll, she said, "because my family hasn't seen me".
"Not having me around to be able to do the things that we normally do as a family. We have game nights ... my granddaughter's soccer games that I missed, I missed her whole soccer season."
Ms Hughes-Brown said she would not visit Ireland again until she became a US citizen, despite the fact that she has many relatives here.
However, knowing that Homeland Security has waived its right to appeal is reassuring, she added.
She was reunited with her husband on Thursday night and travelled back home to Bowling Green in Missouri on Friday, reuniting with her extended family over the weekend.
