‘I was living day by day:’ Portland woman detained by immigration authorities for 4 months getting back on her feet

Four little sets of arms flung open.

“Mommy,” “Mommy,” “Mom,” “yippee,” the children exclaimed as they rushed to embrace their mother.

It’s no exaggeration to say they’d been waiting for this moment for months.

U.S. immigration authorities arrested their mother, 44-year-old Jackie Merlos , at Peace Arch Historical State Park on the Canadian border in late June and didn’t release the Portland woman until Oct. 27 .

The children — triplets who are 9 and a boy who is 7 — had been with Merlos at the park to see family who live in Canada and were detained alongside Merlos for about two weeks in northern Washington, despite the fact the children are U.S. citizens. Their visiting grandmother was also detained.

So began their harrowing experience with President Donald Trump’s increasi