Annabella Gyasi and her young son were expected to leave for Ghana on Friday evening, ending a detention at Washington Dulles International Airport that lasted more than a week and included two hospitalizations for the pregnant 38-year-old.

A federal judge in Washington ordered on Friday that the pair be allowed to return home immediately, bringing a sudden close to a case that had left them confined in a windowless airport detention room since they arrived on May 19.

The order from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the welfare of the petitioners and the interests of justice are best served by allowing them to return home immediately. For Gyasi, that meant a flight out of the United States the same day she was ordered released, after days in custody that her lawyers said she endured while expecting a child and caring for her son.

Her detention drew attention because of what happened inside that airport room. Gyasi spent more than a week there, and during that time she was hospitalized twice for pregnancy complications that included vaginal bleeding and high blood pressure. The Department of Homeland Security says people in custody have access to appropriate care, including a doctor’s evaluation, medication and food.

The case also turned on a fight over why immigration officers held her and her son. Her lawyers said Gyasi and her son were on valid visas and that she told officers they had faced persecution in Ghana and feared returning. An earlier Brinkema order quoted immigration officials as saying the tourist visas were not valid because Gyasi had said she came to the United States to seek asylum and did not plan to return home.

That dispute mattered because it shaped the government’s view of whether the family had a lawful basis to stay while their claims were reviewed. It also made Friday’s order more than a routine release. By directing that they go home immediately, Brinkema effectively ended the airport standoff without waiting for a longer legal fight over visa status.

Gyasi’s lawyers said she felt she had no choice but to agree to leave the United States after days in detention. Mary Bauer, one of the attorneys involved, said she was relieved that Gyasi and her son would soon be free from what she described as a nightmare, but added that no one should have to endure conditions like the ones they faced. Their expected departure on Friday evening leaves one final unanswered piece: how soon a family that arrived at Dulles on May 19 can begin to rebuild once they are back in Ghana.