With tears streaming and arms wide open, Clarissa Fuentes Diaz wrapped her father in a long-awaited embrace outside a Louisiana detention center Thursday — the first time she had seen him in nearly a month.

Daniel Fuentes Espinal, the Maryland pastor arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late July, was finally free and on his way back to his family in Easton.

“It was an emotional time for me — to see him after almost a month of not seeing him,” Diaz said, noting her father has lost 10 pounds since he was first detained.

“I told him I loved him and missed him and was so happy to have him back. I told him how much he meant to me and to other people,” she recalled. “He said, ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you for everything you have done for me — for fighting.’ I told him he didn’t have to thank me. Any daughter would do that for her father.”

Espinal, a 54-year-old whose visa had expired, was granted bond Tuesday morning, according to Diaz, but he remained at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana until Thursday.

Diaz and her husband booked a last-minute flight to New Orleans for $1,000 a ticket and then drove 250 miles northwest of the city to the men’s detention facility. (There were airports closer to the detention center, but they would have been double the ticket price, she said.)

When an ICE detainee is released from a facility, it is their responsibility to pay for their own transportation back to where they were originally detained. Espinal’s flight back to Baltimore was an additional $300, according to Diaz. In all they spent “thousands of dollars” to retrieve her father, but the costs were worth it for his eldest daughter.

“There’s a special bond between a daughter and her father,” she said. “I would have done anything to get him back.”

Upon his reunion with the rest of his family in Easton a day later, Diaz said, she could see the relief in her mother and siblings.

“My mom cried and kissed him,” she recalled.

At home, the family hung a “welcome back” sign and set out Espinal’s favorite dishes — chicken, rice and a Spanish potato salad made with boiled eggs, mayonnaise and a touch of ketchup, Diaz said. They played his favorite song, “Goodness of God” by CeCe Winans.

“We haven’t been sleeping,” she said. “It was an emotional night.

“We still have a long road ahead of us,” said Diaz, who is speaking on behalf of her father. Espinal plans to release a video message to the public in the coming days. “We’re keeping the faith we had in the beginning until the end.”

How the pastor’s arrest unfolded

Espinal was stopped by an ICE agent on July 21 after getting breakfast on his way to a construction job. Espinal has been living in the U.S. since 2001 and has no criminal history, his family says.

The father of three was detained at a facility in Salisbury and eventually taken to the controversial Baltimore holding rooms, where he stayed 3 1/2 days before being transferred to Louisiana.

ICE’s own guidelines are to hold men and women arrested on immigration charges for no more than 12 hours.

But, under President Donald Trump’s administration, ICE has detained immigrants in Baltimore holding rooms for an average of 51 hours, four times longer than the maximum time limit under its long-standing policy, according to a Baltimore Banner analysis of federal data. (Espinal was held in Baltimore for 84 hours.)

Espinal, who leads a congregation of 70 at Iglesia del Nazareno Jesus Te Ama (Church of the Nazarene Jesus Loves You) in Easton, spent his time at the Louisiana detention center ministering to fellow detainees. When the detention center chaplain learned of the pastor’s identity after seeing media coverage about him, he offered him the ability to lead prayers two days a week and twice daily Bible study.

The chaplain told her father that services usually attracted about a half dozen people prior to his arrival. By the time he left, around 70 men of all ethnicities, countries of origin and religions attended, Diaz said.

“The atmosphere there changed,” she said. “Many lives were restored.”

Espinal’s stay in the Louisiana detention center reveals a stark contrast from his time in Baltimore.

On the sixth floor of the Fallon Federal Building in Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore’s facility holds detainees in at least two large and two small cells measuring about 12 by 18 feet and 12 by 12 feet. Espinal told his daughter the Louisiana cells were larger.

Baltimore cells each have a toilet, sink, mid-height privacy wall and a shared phone, with large cells holding up to 35 people and smaller ones up to 15, according to court records. In Louisiana, Espinal noted, detainees had private bathrooms.

In March, staffers for Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks toured the Baltimore facility and said they found no infirmary or medical staff on-site; no food service contract, leading to makeshift meals; and no traditional beds, leaving detainees to use emergency foil blankets and inflatable beds.

In Louisiana, there were beds, private bathrooms, access to the outside for at least one hour a day and less expensive phone calls, Diaz said.

The phone systems in the facilities are considerably different, according to Diaz.

In Baltimore, calls cost more than $50 each and detainees could dial the same number only once a day. In Louisiana, calls were $6 and could be made to the same number multiple times.

Espinal also was given medication for his blood pressure and stomach — things he wasn’t given in Baltimore. Screening in Louisiana revealed he is diabetic, his daughter said.

“The nurse was exceptional. She was really nice and receptive to my dad,” she added.

Espinal told his daughter that breakfast in Louisiana consisted of eggs, cereal and toast. Lunch was a sandwich with a side. Dinner was usually vegetables, mashed potatoes and chicken.

“It wasn’t bad food,” she said.

In comparison, the Baltimore offerings consisted of a sandwich and water for breakfast and dinner, and instant Ramen noodles for lunch.

“Obviously, Baltimore wasn’t the most ideal place to be,” she said.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since Espinal has been reunited with his family in Easton, he has been resting at home, Diaz said.

Espinal has not returned to his church.

“He’s going to take a little bit of time right now,” Diaz said, adding she hopes he eventually returns to his flock.