College Student Refuses Return to US After Mistaken Deportation to Honduras
A 20-year-old college freshman who was erroneously deported to Honduras has declined to board a flight back to the United States after authorities indicated she might face detention once more upon arrival. Babson College student Any Lucia López Belloza was apprehended in November by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at Boston's Logan International Airport while traveling home to Texas for Thanksgiving.
Government Admits Mistake in Deportation Order
Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter publicly acknowledged that the administration had committed a significant error in ordering ICE officials to deport the Babson College freshman. 'On behalf of the government, we want to sincerely apologize,' Sauter stated during court proceedings. US District Judge Richard Stearns had issued an emergency order on November 21 prohibiting Belloza's deportation or transfer out of Massachusetts for seventy-two hours.
However, by the time Judge Stearns' order was issued, Belloza had already been transported to Texas, potentially removing the case from the court's jurisdiction. She ultimately arrived in Honduras on November 22. Sauter conceded that the court's directive had been violated, attributing this development to an ICE officer's misunderstanding that the order no longer applied and failure to properly document it.
Flight Arranged Then Refused Over Deportation Fears
On February 13, Judge Stearns mandated that the Trump administration rectify its mistake by facilitating Belloza's return to the United States. Initially, the college student expressed excitement upon learning that a flight had been arranged to bring her home. 'That excitement turned into a nightmare,' Belloza later revealed, after discovering through court filings that the Trump administration planned to deport her again upon her return to US soil.
Belloza reported that an ICE officer had misled her prior to this discovery, suggesting she would be released after landing in the United States if she boarded the plane. 'I believed him for a second,' Belloza told reporters. 'I pictured stepping off of the plane and finally being free... I won't mince words. I am angry. I am sad.'
Legal Battle and Government Response
In court filings submitted on Friday, the Trump administration noted that Belloza failed to appear at a pre-arranged meeting and did not board the flight organized from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated: 'Complying with a court order, ICE attempted to facilitate Any Lopez-Belloza’s return back to the United States. But she failed to appear for her pre-arranged flight. ICE made multiple attempts to reach out to her with no response.'
Belloza's attorney, Todd Pomerleau, accused the Trump administration of 'gamesmanship' and declared: 'I'm not stopping until she's back here, but she's not coming back in handcuffs.' Pomerleau previously represented Bruna Ferreira, the mother of US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew, when she was arrested by ICE in November.
Background of Removal Order and Judicial Commentary
The Department of Homeland Security spokesperson emphasized that Belloza entered the country in 2014 and received a final removal order from an immigration judge in 2015. 'She was removed to Honduras. The court order to stop her removal was issued AFTER she was already removed. She received full due process including a final order of removal from a judge,' the spokesperson added.
Belloza's arrest and deportation were based on a removal order issued when she was just eleven years old, which she claims she was unaware existed. While Assistant US Attorney Sauter offered a rare apology for the mistaken deportation, he maintained there were no grounds to hold anyone in contempt. He described this as an unusual instance of the government not following an order among over seven hundred cases filed in Massachusetts by migrants challenging detention since President Donald Trump implemented his hardline immigration agenda.
Judge Stearns, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, praised Sauter for acknowledging the error. The judge proposed that the State Department issue Belloza a student visa to complete her studies, though the Trump administration appears not to have followed this recommendation. 'We don't want to lose sight that we have a real human being here,' Stearns remarked in January. 'She's a very sympathetic person, and there should be some means to addressing this.'
