Court Deadline Passes for Return of Babson Student Wrongly Sent to Honduras

A federal court deadline expired Friday for returning 19-year-old Any Lucia Lopez Belloza to the U.S. after she was mistakenly deported to Honduras in November. The Babson College freshman was detained at Boston's Logan Airport while traveling to visit family for Thanksgiving, despite having no criminal record.

A federal court deadline expired Friday for the U.S. government to bring back a 19-year-old college student who was wrongfully deported to Honduras, while her legal team accused federal authorities of delaying tactics and attempting to pressure her onto a flight that might lead to her detention.

Attorney Todd Pomerleau stated his legal team stands ready to pursue the matter through the appeals process and pledged that Any Lucia Lopez Belloza “is not coming back in handcuffs.”

The Babson College student, who maintains a clean criminal record and has been attending classes online from Honduras, indicated she plans to stay there temporarily while her lawyers continue advocating for her return.

“No one should have to feel this powerless. All I’m asking is for honesty and fairness,” she told reporters during a Friday Zoom call. “I’m asking to be treated like a human with rights.”

Lopez Belloza was apprehended at Logan International Airport in Boston last November as she attempted to travel to Texas for a Thanksgiving family visit. Within 48 hours, she found herself deported to Honduras – a nation she departed when she was just 7 years old – even though a court injunction prohibited her removal while legal proceedings were ongoing. Federal prosecutors subsequently admitted in court that immigration officials had wrongfully deported her.

The Department of Homeland Security previously maintained that Lopez Belloza received proper legal procedures and had been subject to a final removal directive issued years ago by an immigration judge. Immigration authorities did not respond immediately Friday to requests for comment regarding the missed deadline and proposed return arrangements.

Lopez Belloza has stated she was unaware of any removal order against her and was only 11 when the immigration decision was made. Pomerleau noted that his initial review of her immigration files showed no active removal order in the system.

January court documents revealed that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official failed to properly engage an alert mechanism that should have highlighted the judge’s order preventing her removal. While the administration expressed regret for the mistake, they maintained it did not nullify the previous removal directive.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns directed the government to arrange her return within two weeks, stating that courts – not executive agencies – must decide her rights and whether her removal was legal. The Friday midnight deadline has now passed.

Government lawyers have contended that the federal court in Boston does not have authority to reverse her removal order.

Both Lopez Belloza and her lawyer reported that federal officials attempted to organize a government flight to the United States within the last day but refused to clarify whether she would be freed upon landing. Pomerleau indicated court documents suggest the government intends to hold her in Texas and might attempt another deportation within days.

“They’re interpreting the judge’s facilitation order to the extreme,” Pomerleau explained. “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.”