BOSTON (AP) — The court-ordered deadline for the U.S. government to return a Babson College freshman mistakenly deported to Honduras was set to expire at midnight Friday, as her lawyers accused federal officials of stalling and said she had been pressured to board a flight that could have resulted in her detention.
Her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said his legal team is prepared to continue fighting the case through appeals and vowed that 19-year-old
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza “is not coming back in handcuffs.”
Lopez Belloza, who has no criminal record and has been studying remotely from Honduras, said she will remain there for now as her legal team continues to press for her return.
“No one should have to feel this powerless. All I’m asking is for honesty and fairness,” she said, speaking to reporters Friday via Zoom. “I’m asking to be treated like a human with rights.”
In a statement Friday, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempted to comply with the court’s order by arranging Lopez Belloza’s return to the United States but that she “failed to appear for her prearranged flight.” The spokesperson said ICE made “multiple attempts” to contact her and declined to provide additional details, citing operational security.
DHS also said Lopez Belloza entered the country in 2014 and that an immigration judge issued a final order of removal in 2015. The agency said the court order blocking her removal was issued after she had already been removed and that she received “full due process.”
Lopez Belloza was detained at Boston’s Logan International Airport in November while trying to fly to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported to Honduras, the country she left at age 7, less than two days later despite a court order barring her removal while her case was pending. Federal prosecutors later acknowledged in court that immigration authorities had mistakenly deported her.
Lopez Belloza has said she did not know she had a removal order against her and was 11 years old when the immigration case was decided. Pomerleau has said that when he initially reviewed her immigration records, he did not see an active removal order reflected in the system.
In court filings in January, government attorneys said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer failed to properly activate an alert system that would have flagged the judge’s order blocking her removal. The administration apologized for the error but argued that the mistake did not invalidate the prior removal order.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ordered the government to facilitate her return within two weeks, saying the courts — not the executive branch — must determine her rights and the legality of her removal. The deadline was set to expire at midnight Friday.
Government attorneys have argued that the federal court in Boston lacks jurisdiction to undo her removal order.
Lopez Belloza and her attorney said federal officials sought to arrange a government-facilitated flight to the United States in the past 24 hours but would not clearly state whether she would be released upon arrival. Pomerleau said court filings indicate the government planned to detain her in Texas and could seek to deport her again within days.
“They’re interpreting the judge’s facilitation order to the extreme,” Pomerleau said. “The judge’s order says to facilitate her return to the United States to maintain the status quo. And in their view, the status quo is that she was in handcuffs in a jail in Texas. So they’re going to bring her back, put her in handcuffs and leave her in that same jail in Texas."
