"Social media storm" helped release the DACA-recipient flight attendant who was detained by ICE
Source: CBS News
"Social media storm" helped release the DACA-recipient flight attendant who was detained by ICE
BY KATE SMITH
UPDATED ON: MARCH 22, 2019 / 8:18 PM / CBS NEWS
A "social media storm" sparked the release of DACA recipient Selene Saavedra Roman, the flight attendant whose detainment caused outrage on Friday after it was highlighted by popular travel website "The Points Guy," said Belinda Arroyo, the immigration attorney representing Roman.
Up until Friday, Roman had been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since February 13 after she flew to Mexico as a flight attendant for Phoenix, Arizona-based Mesa Airlines. Her story went viral Friday morning, even gaining the attention of former presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. An online petition demanding Roman's release amassed more than 17,000 signatures. By the afternoon, Roman called her husband to tell him she had been released, Arroyo told CBS News on Friday evening.
"The social media around this was definitely what got her released," Arroyo said. "We had no luck before now, then the story hit."
Arroyo noted that ICE had not confirmed to her that Roman had been released yet, and said the agency "hasn't been forthcoming" with details and information surrounding Roman's detainment.
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But a flight in February put all of that at risk. Less than a month into a new job as a flight attendant for Mesa Airlines, Roman was asked to work an international flight that stopped in Mexico. She was assured by her supervisor that the travel was legal, but when she returned to Houston, Customs and Border Patrol officials took her aside and placed her under ICE custody. During the Obama administration, Dreamers were allowed to travel freely, but the Trump administration has restricted those privileges, her attorney said, saying that Mesa made a "mistake" in telling Roman it was OK for her to travel.
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Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-storm-helped-release-the-daca-recipient-flight-attendant-who-was-detained-by-ice-2019-03-22/
