SACKETS HARBOR — A local family’s 11-day ordeal in a Texas immigration detention center has come to an end.

The mother and her three children were released on Monday and were on their way home after they were taken by federal immigration agents in a raid on March 27.

On Monday afternoon, Sackets Harbor Central School Superintendent Jennifer Gaffney said she and other school officials will now focus on helping the mother and three district students recover from the ordeal.

“My colleagues and I are relieved and grateful to share that, after eleven days of uncertainty, our students and their mother are returning home,” Gaffney said in a press release. “We remain committed to providing the care, understanding, and sensitivity necessary for all students and staff as we begin the healing process from this traumatic experience.”

Her remarks came a short time after Assemblyman Scott Gray, R-Watertown, announced that the matter had been resolved and the family was returning home.

Gaffney thanked the community for coming together to support the family.

“In the midst of this difficult time, the strength, compassion and resilience of our community have shone through. We are very thankful to everyone who has reached out with kindness and offered support.”

Gaffney is asking the public to honor the family’s privacy.

The family was sent to an immigration detention center 1,800 miles away after being swept up in an investigation into child pornography at North Harbor Dairy in the town of Hounsfield.

In his statement, Gray called the family’s return home “an outcome we are all profoundly grateful to occur.”

The community had demanded the family’s release. About 1,000 people participated in a march on Saturday past the home of Sackets Harbor resident Tom Homan, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Corey Decillis, chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Committee, spearheaded community efforts to bring the mother and her children — in third, eighth and 11 grade — back home to the North Country.

Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, said last week that the detainment occurring in Homan’s town “is a microcosm of what’s happening across the state and the nation. “I think it illustrates his actions,” Awawdeh said.

The family had been assigned an immigration case in New York and was attending immigration check-ins and court hearings, Awawdeh said.

Decillis was notified by a reporter on Monday afternoon about their release.

“I have goose bumps,” he said. “I’m ecstatic.”

Decillis credited the community for coming together to get the family released.

“Our voices were heard,” he said. “The efforts of the community and the school brought this positive result from the march.”

A small group from Sackets Harbor was in Texas waiting to join the family on the journey home, he said.

Events began to unfold on the morning of March 27 when agents from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations executed a warrant at North Harbor Dairy on County Route 145 as part of an investigation into the alleged distribution of child pornography. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were part of the raid.

The mother and three children were swept up in the detainment. The three children were dragged out of their beds at 6 a.m., put into a van and taken away in handcuffs, advocates said.

Gray said that he has been in contact with federal officials since the family was detained.

“Throughout this process, I have remained in close communication with relevant federal agencies to ensure that due process was followed and that the children’s best interests and the community’s integrity were respected,” Gray said in a statement. “The authorities have confirmed the release of the family following a health review, follow-up with ICE witness coordinator and investigative interview with the case agent in charge of the investigation. ICE has made an independent decision to release the family while the criminal investigation continues to be conducted.”

This follows and confirms the process as detailed by Homan last week, Gray said.

“While we welcome the resolution, it is despite the spread of misinformation from many sources surrounding this case,” Gray said. “Much of what occurred during the criminal investigation — particularly any considerations that potentially could have involved the children — is sensitive information and not a subject for public misconstrued banter. Their safety and well-being and the integrity of ongoing legal criminal investigations are paramount.”

Now that it’s over, Gray would like to see the community move beyond controversy and think of the family.

“This has been a difficult and emotional matter for many. Let us now come together and set aside the differences that separated us during this ordeal. We must support the family and recommit ourselves as a community to ensure that all actions taken — by institutions or individuals — are grounded in truth, compassion and responsibility,” Gray concluded.

In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she talked to Homan on Monday afternoon and was informed that the family had been released.

“I cannot imagine the trauma these kids and their mom are feeling, and I pray they will be able to heal when they return home,” she said.

Hochul credited Gray for intervening in the situation.

“I want to thank him and the entire Sackets Harbor community who rallied to support their neighbors,” she said.

The governor said New York will continue to be open to working with federal immigration enforcement to crack down on gang members or violent criminals.

“But I will never support cruel actions that rip kids out of school or tear families apart,” she said.

After hearing the news, Mabel Tso, senior education strategist for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that the family was released only after mounting pressure from the community and the public.

She said that no one, especially a mother with three children, should be the victims of ICE agents busting down their door, ripping them from their home and sending them across the country.

“The outrageous events of the past week do make one thing clear: When people in every corner of New York see the real, human impact of ICE’s cruelty and Trump’s mass deportation machine, they mobilize, speak out, and fight back,” she said.