Southwest Flight Attendant Immigration Case: Southwest Flight Attendant Lorenzo Thompson Detained by ICE While on Duty at Nashville Airport
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A Southwest Airlines flight attendant was taken into federal immigration custody while working at Nashville International Airport last week, his union confirmed, sparking an outpouring of support from colleagues and raising pointed questions about the circumstances of his arrest.
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Lorenzo Thompson, a Jamaican citizen who goes by “Enzo,” was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 14 after returning to Nashville from a work trip. He has remained in ICE custody since.
What ICE says happened
Federal immigration officials say Thompson entered the United States in April 2021 on a visa that permitted him to stay for six months. That visa expired in October 2021, and ICE says he never departed. “Against our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa and failed to depart,” an agency spokesperson said, adding that Thompson was cooperative during the arrest and will remain in custody while his immigration proceedings move forward.
A more complicated picture, supporters say
Thompson’s union, Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represents Southwest flight attendants out of Dallas, confirmed the arrest publicly and made clear it intends to stand by him. “Every member deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” the union said in a statement.
Friends and colleagues say the legal picture is not as straightforward as the government’s account suggests. A GoFundMe campaign organized on Thompson’s behalf describes him as someone with no criminal history whose case involves factors that ICE’s public statement does not address. The specifics of any pending asylum claim or other legal filings have not been independently confirmed.
Colleagues call him a union brother
Edward Marq, a fellow Southwest flight attendant and member of TWU Local 556, said he was stunned when he learned who had been detained. “He is a union brother to me,” Marq said.
Marq is also a member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and says Thompson’s case has galvanized coworkers who feel the arrest, carried out at a major commercial airport while Thompson was actively on duty, crossed a line.
The case has drawn broader attention partly because of where it happened. Airports are tightly regulated federal environments, and Thompson had apparently cleared whatever security and employment vetting Southwest requires to work as a flight attendant. How someone with an expired visa status maintained active employment in that setting is a question that has not yet been answered publicly by either the airline or federal authorities.
Southwest Airlines has not issued a detailed public statement on the matter.
Thompson’s immigration proceedings are ongoing.
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