Jessica Estepa, and Donovan Slack

USA TODAY

A U.S. Marine veteran who spent the past eight months in a Mexican jail is back in America and safely at home in Florida.

Retired Marine sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi was released Friday after an order from a Mexican judge. Mexican authorities detained him earlier this year when he crossed into the country with loaded guns.

After the judge's decision, the 26-year-old man was taken across the U.S.-Mexico border to a San Diego airport. There, the Afghanistan veteran met his mother, Jill, Republican Rep. Ed Royce of California and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, according to tweets from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Also present were TV personality Montel Williams and Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.

Tahmooressi then boarded a private plane to Miami, according to the U-T San Diego newspaper and the local CBS affiliate.

A family spokesman told reporters that Tahmooressi arrived at about 6 a.m. Saturday and was now resting with his family at their home in Weston, Fla., where he will soon begin receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

In March, Tahmooressi crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with loaded guns. He has said he took a wrong turn on a freeway that took him to a Tijuana port of entry.

The judge who ordered his release Friday said it was because of his mental state. He did not address the weapons charges.

His detention for having the weapons has drawn national attention, resulting in social media campaigns as well as politicians and veterans groups calling for his freedom. His release was met with a flurry of support from U.S. officials.

"I am overjoyed to hear the news of Andrew's release," Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said.

"It's been a long ordeal for Sgt. Tahmooressi and his family, but I'm relieved that he is finally being freed and that their nightmare is coming to an end," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said.

The State Department said Saturday that throughout the ordeal it provided assistance to his family and followed the case closely.

"The efforts made by Sgt. Tahmooressi's family, legal team, and supporters — private citizens as well as from the U.S. legislative and executive branches — to work through the Mexican legal process to resolve this issue have allowed Sgt. Tahmooressi to receive required medical care," the department said in a statement.

Contributing: The Associated Press