Sakeik was released Monday from the Prairieland Detention Center. She had been arrested in February while returning from a honeymoon trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands with her husband. Although the islands are a U.S. territory, she was flagged by Customs and Border Protection upon reentry.

A North Texas newlywed who spent more than 140 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody said Thursday in her first public comments since her release that she does not blame the country that has been her home for more than a decade.

Ward Sakeik, a stateless Palestinian who recently married a U.S. citizen, said she lost five months of her life because of her statelessness in her first remarks since being released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention earlier this week.