Irish citizen detained in US freed after husband appeals to Congress

Donna Hughes-Brown, a 59-year-old Irish grandmother who has lived legally in the United States since age 11, was released after 143 days of immigration detention stemming from two bad checks totaling $80 that she wrote over a decade ago. She was apprehended at Chicago O'Hare Airport in July 2025 upon returning from Ireland and held at an ICE facility in Kentucky, far from her Missouri home. Her release came after her husband, a Gulf War veteran, attended a congressional hearing where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem committed to reviewing the case, and after a judge ruled she posed no community threat with support from 30 character witnesses and 18 U.S. Senators.