A Flight Attendant With DACA Was Cleared By Her Airline To Fly To Mexico. She Was Detained By ICE For Over A Month.

On Friday, after public outcry, Saavedra-Roman was released.

“On March 22, at approximately 6:15 p.m. (CDT), Peruvian national Selene Saavedra Roman, 28, was released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody pending adjudication of her immigration proceedings,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

Watkins said his wife suffers from depression and anxiety and the lengthy detention exacerbated the conditions.

“She’s not doing hot,” he said. “I’m not doing well either, but at least I’m on the outside.”

Saavedra-Roman’s lawyer Belinda Arroyo told BuzzFeed News the airline “gave her bad advice” by telling her she was authorized to travel outside the country, adding that US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has no reason to hold her client.

“Why are we wasting precious government resources to detain someone who is a DACA recipient, married to a US citizen, and has no criminal history?” Arroyo said. “[ICE] has the power to release her.”

In joint statement with the Association of Flight Attendants on Friday, the CEO of Mesa Airlines said Saavedra-Roman’s detention was the result of “an administrative error and a misunderstanding,” and called on the Department of Homeland Security to release her.

“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 in a statement. “We are doing everything in our power to ask the administration to release Selene, and drop all charges stemming from this horrible situation.”

Arroyo submitted a request for parole, which would have allowed Saavedra-Roman to be released, nearly three weeks ago, but no determination was issued, she said.

The holdup, Arroyo speculated, may have been because ICE had sought to revoke Roman’s DACA status and deport her back to Peru, a country she has not been to since she was 3 years old, Arroyo said, calling the move “shocking.”

“They know it was an inadvertent mistake,” she said.

A spokesperson for ICE said Saavedra-Roman applied for admission into the country “without valid entry documentation.”

“She was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and processed as a refused crewmember. Saavedra Roman is currently in ICE custody pending adjudication of her immigration proceedings,” the statement continued.

The agency did not say whether ICE had attempted to revoke Saavedra-Roman’s status. A spokesperson for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said the union had mobilized to support Saavedra-Roman.

“She has followed the rules, paid taxes, and is currently in process to citizenship,” Nelson said. “The United States is her country and we need to bring her home.”