US Politics
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza: Judge dismisses case of Babson College student deported due to ICE officer’s ‘mistake’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
A U.S. judge who earlier ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a student that it deported to Honduras now says that her case must be dismissed.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 20-year-old freshman at Massachusetts’ Babson College, came to the U.S. from Honduras when she was 8.
A final order of removal was entered when she was 11 – a fact of which she said she was unaware.
In November, Lopez Belloza was detained by immigration authorities at Logan International Airport in Boston while traveling to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Texas. She was deported to Honduras soon after.
On February 27, the freshman declined to board a flight arranged by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bring her back to the United States after the administration said it would try to deport her again if she returned.
Her lawyers had urged Boston-based U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns to let Lopez Belloza continue the lawsuit she filed after being detained.
open image in gallery
But the judge said Friday the “sad truth” is that her decision not to board the plane means her case must be dismissed.
Stearns reaffirmed his earlier conclusion that he did not have jurisdiction to hear the case concerning her detention because by the time it was filed on November 21, she had been flown by immigration authorities to Texas.
His sole remaining basis for jurisdiction would have been to enforce an order issued by another judge just minutes after Lopez Belloza’s case was filed barring her from being deported or transferred out of Massachusetts for 72 hours. Lopez Belloza was flown from Texas to Honduras the next day despite that judicial order.
A U.S. government lawyer later apologized to Stearns for a “mistake” made by a ICE officer who failed to properly alert others in the agency about the existence of the judicial order.
open image in gallery
Stearns on February 13 ordered the administration to rectify the error by facilitating her return to the United States. The administration last week said it would do so by having Lopez Belloza board the ICE flight from Honduras to Texas.
But the administration also said ICE planned to move to deport her again upon arrival and had the authority to detain her. Lopez Belloza said the “nightmare” situation caused her to decline to board the flight and remain in Honduras.
“The sad truth is that when Any declined the flight she also waived this court’s only remaining basis for jurisdiction,” Stearns wrote.
Stearns said had she boarded the plane, the judicial order barring her swift deportation would have remained in effect, giving her “ample opportunity” to file a new case in Texas to challenge her detention.