The nurse who protested being quarantined at a New Jersey hospital last year because she had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa filed a lawsuit Thursday against Gov. Chris Christie and the state health department.

In it, she argues state officials illegally held her against her will, Fox News reports.

Attorneys for Kaci Hickox filed the  civil rights lawsuit in Newark. It also names former state Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd and other health department employees.

Hickox, 34, who was working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone during last year's deadly Ebola outbreak,is seeking at least $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

She was stopped when she arrived at Newark Liberty International airport after visting the West African nation and sent to stay in quarantine in a tent outside of a hospital in Newark, despite having no symptoms of the disease.

"My liberty, my interests and consequently my civil rights were ignored because some ambitious governors saw an opportunity to use an age-old political tactic: fear," Hickox said in a statement.

A spokesman for Christie didn't respond to a request for comment.