A Utah college student arrested by federal immigration agents in Mesa County earlier this month was released Friday after what she called the “nightmare” of a 15-day stay in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora.

Caroline Dias Goncalves was detained by ICE in Grand Junction on June 5, shortly after being pulled over by a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy in a separate traffic stop, from which she was let go with a warning. The deputy has been placed on leave amid an internal investigation into whether a Signal message leading to Dias Goncalves’ arrest violated Colorado laws prohibiting cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE.

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The University of Utah nursing student was then held at the ICE facility in Aurora, operated by private prison firm GEO Group, before being released on bond Friday evening, she said in a statement released through immigration advocates on Monday.

“The past 15 days have been the hardest of my life,” Dias Goncalves said. “I was scared and felt alone. I was placed in a system that treated me like I didn’t matter.”

A daily average of more than 1,100 people are held in the Aurora ICE detention center, the only such facility in Colorado. Dias Goncalves, who was born in Brazil and brought to the U.S. as a 7-year-old, described having to eat soggy food — “even the bread would come wet,” she said — and other dehumanizing treatment towards detainees in the facility.

“The moment they realized I spoke English, I saw a change. Suddenly, I was treated better than others who didn’t speak English,” her statement added. “That broke my heart. Because no one deserves to be treated like that. Not in a country that I’ve called home since I was 7 years old and is all I’ve ever known.”

ICE has not replied to questions from Newsline and other media outlets about Dias Goncalves’ arrest, which has sparked an outcry from national groups that advocate on behalf of “Dreamers,” young adults who lack permanent legal status after being brought to the U.S. as children.

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“We are hurting our nation — and our very soul — when we target immigrant youth this way,” Gaby Pacheco, president of the advocacy group TheDream.US, said in a statement on Dias Goncalves’ release. “One traffic stop. One unlawful arrest. And a lifetime of trauma. Enough is enough.”

Tensions over immigration enforcement have risen across the country in recent weeks as President Donald Trump’s administration, seeking to fulfill its promised mass-deportation campaign, has directed ICE to dramatically broaden the scope of its operations. That has included an order to the agency to meet an arrest quota of at least 3,000 people per day.

Contrary to claims by the Trump administration that its efforts are targeting violent criminals, the share of people taken into ICE custody despite having no criminal record — Dias Goncalves among them — has risen sharply since January.

Representatives for Dias Goncalves said she and her family were requesting privacy following her release. In her statement, she said she would try to “move forward” and focus on work and school, and directly addressed the ICE agent who detained her.

“He kept apologizing and told me he wanted to let me go, but his ‘hands were tied.’ There was nothing he could do, even though he knew it wasn’t right,” Dias Goncalves wrote. “I want you to know — I forgive you. Because I believe that people can make better choices when they’re allowed to.”