Updated at 5:57 p.m.

Five migrants – all twenty-something men from East India – made their first public appearance Wednesday after nearly three months at an Oregon prison put them in the center of a political firestorm.

They voiced gratitude to be out of federal detention during a news conference in downtown Portland.

"In the beginning I had no hope," said Karandeep Singh, 24. "Now it's like a dream. I'm so happy. Thank you all of the people who have helped us."

The asylum seekers had been strangers when they were shipped to the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan in late May. At more than 50, the East Indians represented the single-largest bloc of the 124 migrants being housed at the prison. The others hailed from Nepal, Armenia, Brazil, Mexico and parts of Central America.

Many of the East Indians are practicing Sikhs, a designation they claim subjects them to religious and political persecution in their native land. It also presented problems inside Sheridan, where they were prevented from following some basic Sikh practices.

"I don't blame the prison officials," Karandeep Singh said. "They probably didn't know how Sikhs pray."

This globe-spanning collection of humanity had one thing in common -- they were ready to risk everything to get to the United States. Most had been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border before being moved to the Yamhill County facility.

Those early days had been bleak, the migrants said. There were housed three-to-a-cell, sharing a common toilet, and restricted to their quarters 22 hours a day.

"We were seriously depressed," said Lovpreet Singh, 22, through an interpreter. "We couldn't get out of our cells at all, let alone use the phone to call our families. Even the prison officials didn't know who we were. How were our families supposed to help us when they don't know where we are?"

A handful of detainees couldn't take it and volunteered to be deported. But the remaining 120 or so were determined to stick it out.

They got some high-level assistance: The American Civil Liberties Union and the Innovation Law Lab, a Portland legal nonprofit specializing in immigration cases, put in countless volunteer hours preparing the detainees' first asylum hearings.

After touring the Sheridan facility, the local federal Public Defender filed habeus corpus petitions on behalf of the detainees, claiming the prison conditions were unconstitutional.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, and most of the rest of state's congressional delegation toured Sheridan in mid-June and were appalled at the conditions.

"This is a shameful hour in U.S. history," said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer at the time. "I don't care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favor ripping children out of their parents' arms..."

Under President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance policy, the U.S. prosecuted anyone trying to enter the country illegally, including asylum seekers. Families were split up, with the adults being shipped to jails and children placed in the custody the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

None of the five immigrants at Wednesday's news conference had been traveling with family.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions implemented the policy in May, arguing that drastic measures were needed to stem the enormous surge of migrants fleeing their countries.

Merkley played a pivotal role in bringing public attention to the controversy. He traveled to Texas and tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to get inside sprawling new federal detention centers. After weeks of intense media attention, The New York Times described the effort as Merkley's "breakout moment at the border."

Merkley said Wednesday it was gratifying to hear that some of the Sheridan inmates are getting out. He remembers how bewildered and dispirited the detainees were when he toured the prison. "It was Kafka-esque," he said. "These young men had been snatched at the border, shipped to a prison far away. They didn't know what was happening, they didn't know where they were, sometimes they were locked up with people who didn't speak their language."

Under intense pressure, Trump rescinded his family separation policy on June 20, though it remains unclear what that meant for the estimated 2,300 children who'd already been split up from their parents. Merkley said at least 550 children remain in limbo. In some cases, the parents were deported and can't be located. "It's a real mess," he said.

Later in June, immigration advocates scored a victory when U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon ordered the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow the 121 migrants being held at Sheridan to meet with attorneys.

The immigration debate sparked protests across the country, including at the Sheridan gates and Southwest Portland, where demonstrators blockaded the ICE headquarters for weeks. On Monday, President Donald Trump slammed Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's decision to ask police to not to intervene in the standoff.

"Last month, the mayor of Portland, Oregon shamefully ordered local police to stand down, leaving federal law enforcement officers to face an angry mob of violent people," Trump said in a speech honoring border police.

For the Sheridan detainees, a turning point came in August, when federal immigration officials determined at least 79 of them had legitimate asylum claims. They were judged to have a "credible fear" of violence or reprisals if returned to their home country.

That determination allowed the migrants to ask a federal immigration judge to release them on bond while their immigration case is pending. Those bond payments ranged in these cases from $1,500 to $25,000. The first of the Sheridan prisoners got released on Monday and lawyers expect more to be released this week and next.

All five of the Sheridan detainees at Wednesday's news conference intend to move in with family members who live outside the Portland area. They will pursue their immigration cases there.

The credible fear determination does not mean the immigrants are sure to become legal residents of the U.S. They still must persuade an immigration judge they deserve asylum. But the ruling does get them off the expedited removal list. Additionally, those with credible fear designations who can prove they're not flight risks and do not pose a danger to the community may be paroled from detention.

-- Jeff Manning