The Latest: Flight attendant 'just so happy' to be free

HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on a flight attendant detained by U.S. immigration authorities (all times local):

9:15 p.m.

A flight attendant just released from the custody of U.S. immigration authorities after more than a month of detention says her release feels "incredible."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it released Selene Saavedra Roman on Friday evening from a Conroe, Texas, detention center.

In a statement issued through a spokesman, Saavedra Roman said that when she left the detention center, "I cried and hugged my husband and never wanted to let go."

She expressed gratitude for those who argued for her release, saying "it fills my heart."

Roman's attorney, Belinda Martinez Arroyo, said Mesa Airlines had mistakenly reassured the enrollee in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that she could work a flight to Mexico, but Saavedra Roman was detained Feb. 12 upon her return to Houston.

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6:30 p.m.

A flight attendant detained by U.S. immigration authorities as she was returning from an international work assignment has been freed from custody.

Selene Saavedra Roman's husband, David Watkins of College Station, Texas, told KBTX-TV of Bryan and College Station that his wife was freed from detention in Conroe, Texas, early Friday afternoon.

Messages from The Associated Press to Roman's attorney, Belinda Martinez Arroyo, were not immediately returned.

Earlier Friday, Arroyo had told reporters that Roman, who is 28, told her husband that she would be released shortly after Arroyo, Mesa Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants publicly called for her freedom.

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1:05 p.m.

The lawyer for a flight attendant detained by U.S. immigration authorities on her way back from an international work assignment says her client has said she is being released.

Attorney Belinda Arroyo says 28-year-old Selene Saavedra Roman called her husband Friday from a Texas immigration detention facility and said she would be getting out. It was not immediately clear when.

The call came shortly after Arroyo, Mesa Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants publicly called for her release.

A message sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately returned.

Arroyo said the airline had mistakenly reassured the enrollee in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that she could work a flight to Mexico, but Saavedra Roman was detained Feb. 12 upon her return to Houston.

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12:12 p.m.

A flight attendant who traveled to Mexico for work through a program for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children has been detained.

Attorney Belinda Arroyo said Friday that 28-year-old Selene Saavedra Roman raised concerns about whether she could work an international flight due to her immigration status.

Arroyo says Mesa Airlines mistakenly reassured the enrollee in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

U.S. authorities stopped Saavedra Roman on her return to Houston.

Mesa Airlines apologized and joined the Association of Flight Attendants in asking for her release.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Saavedra Roman didn't have a valid document to enter the country.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says on its website that those who travel outside the country without permission are no longer covered by the program.