A Dallas-based flight attendants union is standing behind one of its members after a Southwest Airlines employee was taken into ICE custody last week. <\/p>\n
Federal officials say Lorenzo Thompson overstayed his visa, but supporters say there is more to the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked,\u201d said Edward Marq, member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. <\/p>\n
Marq says he couldn’t believe the news, then learned the flight attendant detained last week wasn’t just a coworker; he was a fellow member of TWU Local 556, the Dallas-based union of Southwest Airlines flight attendants.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a union brother to me,\u201d Marq said. <\/p>\n
Marq is also a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines.<\/p>\n
Marq says Lorenzo “Enzo” Thompson was detained by ICE on July 14, after returning to Nashville International Airport from a work trip. <\/p>\n
\u201cEnzo came to America from Jamaica in 2021, he applied for and received a workers permit, so he applied to work with Southwest Airlines and he\u2019s been with us all this time,\u201d Marq explained.<\/p>\n
Marq says Thompson has a pending asylum case. <\/p>\n
The Department of Homeland Security told NBC 5, \u201cICE ERO New Orleans officers arrested Lorenzo Thompson, an illegal alien from Jamaica, at Nashville International Airport.Thompson entered the United States lawfully on April 17, 2021, at the Miami Port of Entry, with permission to stay for six months. Thompson never departed and remained in the U.S. illegally for five years in violation of the terms of his lawful admission. <\/p>\n
Thompson was cooperative with ICE officers and taken into custody without incident. Cooperation of this nature helps ensure the process is conducted safely and efficiently for all involved. He will remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marq said, \u201cPeople describe Enzo as very loving, as very caring, very friendly, everyone that he has flown with has really enjoyed their flying and it is evident by the outpouring of support that I have seen on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson’s family and friends declined to discuss details of the case saying they don\u2019t want to jeopardize the legal process, but thanked people for prayers, donations and support. Thompson’s union says it\u2019s also working with Thompson’s family, his attorney and its own legal counsel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re worried about him, but it\u2019s beyond an immigration case. It\u2019s about a worker, it\u2019s about a union member, it\u2019s about a family. Everyone deserves that due process and to have their case heard fairly,\u201d Marq said.<\/p>\n
Online records show Thompson is being held at a correctional center in Mississippi. <\/p>\n
Southwest Airlines has not responded to NBC 5\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Dallas-based flight attendants union is standing behind one of its members after a Southwest Airlines employee was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,1724,7329],"class_list":["post-386243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-immigration","tag-southwest-airlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}