Flight Attendant, DREAMer Was Detained by ICE After Flying to Mexico

24 March 2019 News

On Friday, March 22, Selene Saavedra Roman walked outside for the first time after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than a month. La peruana is one of the estimated 800,000 DREAMers who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), allowing her to legally study and work within the United States. The 28-year-old understood her travel limitations due to the Trump administration’s inconsistent stance and intentionally asked not to work on flights destined for Mexico or Canada.

Airline assured flight attendant she’d be safe to fly to Mexico. When she returned, ICE detained her: https://t.co/TtaJ4tnbiT pic.twitter.com/ZxkEStPiXg
— The Points Guy (@thepointsguy) March 22, 2019

Despite this, when the newly hired Mesa Airlines flight attendant was assigned to be on an airplane heading to Mexico, she was assured by her supervisors that she could make the trip without legal consequences. With this security and the desire to keep her job — only being part of the Phoenix-based airline for less than a month — she agreed to work it.

Roman was only 3-years-old when she immigrated to the U.S. from her homeland of Perú and hasn’t left since. The DREAMer grew up in Dallas, graduated from the prestigious Texas A&M, and went on to marry an American citizen in 2017 after years of friendship. She has no criminal record and is working towards her U.S. citizenship.

This is an awful story: A DACA recipient in good standing was told by her airline she could work on a route to Mexico. Now she’s in detention and ICE is threatening to revoke her status.

Please sign and get the word out: https://t.co/T98oNTwOFY
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 22, 2019

On February 12, la latina flew from Houston to Mexico and immediately got on a return flight headed back to the States. But after landing back at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, she was told her paperwork wasn’t in order and was held for 24 hours. ICE then took her into custody and placed her in an immigration detention center in Conroe, Texas.

For six weeks, Roman’s husband, David Watkins, made the four hour drive to visit her weekly in a facility where she allegedly awoke at 6 A.M. to eat breakfast and was put to bed at 10:30 P.M. with limited time outdoors.

After The Points Guy, a travel site, first reported the case, social media rallied around the DREAMer asking for her immediate release. The flight attendant was freed the following day after a MoveOn.org petition was created, former presidential candidate and secretary of state Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to discuss the situation, and an alliance was formed between the Association of Flight Attendants and Mesa Airlines.

Thank you for lifting up Selene’s story, @thepointsguy. Our union is mobilizing to bring her home!

To all: Sign the petition and join the fight to win her freedom. #FreeSelene https://t.co/SDwVnbBAnv https://t.co/flhLyOc584
— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) March 22, 2019

“Being released is an incredible feeling. I cried and hugged my husband and never wanted to let go,” Roman told NBC News. “I am thankful and grateful for the amazing people that came to fight for me, and it fills my heart. Thank you everyone that has supported. I am just so happy to have my freedom back.”

She is still expected to appear in court in April to plea her case in front of a federal immigration and fight against being deported to a country she has no memory of. Although Roman has been a DACA recipient since 2012 and her status is valid until November 2019, it’s unclear whether this will affect her application to become an American citizen.

According to Belinda Arroyo, Roman’s attorney, Mesa Airlines had not been in contact before their administrative error became nationwide news.

“We are deeply sorry Selene and her husband have had to endure this situation. It is patently unfair for someone to be detained for six weeks over something that is nothing more than an administrative error and a misunderstanding,” Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said, according to NBC News. “We are doing everything in our power to ask the administration to … drop all charges stemming from this horrible situation.”