The Trump administration has apologised in court for a ‘mistake’ in the deportation of Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old Babson College student, but controversially argued that the error should not affect her case.
Lopez Belloza was detained at Boston's airport on November 20 and flown to Honduras two days later, despite an emergency court order on November 21 instructing the government to keep her in the US for at least 72 hours. The government acknowledged it violated the order, blaming an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who mistakenly believed the order no longer applied once she left Massachusetts.
Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter apologised on behalf of the government, stating the violation was ‘an inadvertent mistake by one individual, not a willful act of violating a court order.’ The officer admitted in a declaration that he failed to notify the ICE office in Texas to cancel the removal.
In court, the government argued the court lacked jurisdiction because the student's lawyers filed the action several hours after she had arrived in Texas while en route out of the country. Her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, said she was deported in clear violation of the order and had been deprived of due process.
US District Judge Richard Stearns described the violation as a ‘tragic’ bureaucratic error but appeared to rule out holding the government in contempt, noting it did not seem intentional. He questioned his jurisdiction over the case, siding with the government on the timing of the filing.
Pomerleau suggested a possible resolution would be allowing Lopez Belloza to return to finish her studies while he works to reopen the underlying removal order.
