Portland woman arrested with kids at border may be released but husband was deported, friend says

Jackie Merlos, a Portland resident who has been detained by immigration authorities for nearly four months , might be closer to getting home to her four U.S.-born children, a family friend said Tuesday.

Merlos was arrested in late June at Peace Arch Historical State Park in Blaine, Washington, on the Canadian border while meeting with family. Her four children and her visiting mother also were detained there and her husband, Carlos Merlos, was arrested in Portland a few days later.

Carlos Merlos was deported last week and arrived in Honduras on Monday, said family friend, Mimi Lettunich of Portland.

An immigration judge on Tuesday dropped the detention case against Jackie Merlos at the beginning of what was supposed to be a four-hour hearing, Lettunich said.

Lettunich and her hus