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Two of the Ibrahim girls are reunited with their three-year-old sister, Zahra.

NEWS 8 INVESTIGATES

TAYLOR, Texas — On Wednesday, we told you about the Ibrahim family; they were arrested and jailed for immigration violations last November.

But on Saturday, following a News 8 investigation into conditions at the Central Texas prison where they were being kept, immigration officials freed a pregnant mother and four of her children.

It was a joyous scene outside the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility as the Ibrahim children were reunited with a three-year-old sister they hadn't seen in three months.

They were about to take the joyride of their lives in a limousine that was sent to bring them home to their Richardson apartment.

Hanan Ibrahim and her children—Hamza, 15; Rodina, 14, Maryam, 8, and Fatin, 5—had been locked up behind chain link fences covered in double-layer razor wire since Nov. 2,

That's when immigration agents raided their apartment and held them for deportation back to Palestine, the country they fled seeking asylum five years ago.

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Hanan Ibrahim and four of her children had been detained at the Hutto Residential Facility since November.

Since no country would have them back, they sat in prison for three months in 8-by-8-foot cells, dressed in prison scrubs, and far from Hanan's husband, Salaheddin, who was imprisoned hundreds of miles away.

The family's three-year-old daughter, Zahra, spent the three months with an uncle back in North Texas.

Hamza Ibrahim said his mother had a tough time behind bars. "She was really sad," he said. "Pregnant, really sad, nasty food. Rude officers."

The children said they and 500 other immigrants had been treated poorly. They estimated that 80 percent of the prison's population consisted of other children.

Local resident Angela Kopit was at the prison with her family Saturday morning to support the release of the Ibrahims.

"I think it's really tragic. I have three kids, and I just can't imagine what it must have been like for that mom to be away from her smallest baby for three months," Kopit said. "They should tear this place down and let people go out of this place."

Hutto, one of two "residential centers" operated by the Department of Homeland Security, opened last May.

Dallas businessman Ralph Isenberg, who played a major role in securing the release of the family, said the hundreds of other children still inside need to be freed.

"You do not lock children and mothers that are pregnant up in the United States of America—that is not what this country is about," he said.

Immigration officials ruled late Saturday that the Ibrahims do, in fact, have legitimate grounds for seeking asylum in the U.S.

The family is expected to be reunited with their father on Monday.

E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com