A federal judge has delivered a stern rebuke to the Trump administration, mandating corrective action within 21 days for the wrongful deportation of a Honduran college student. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston characterized the incident as a “tragic and preventable mistake” that violated a standing court order.
The case involves Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old Babson College freshman who was apprehended at Boston’s Logan International Airport on November 20 while preparing to travel home to Texas for Thanksgiving. Despite a judicial order issued on November 21 that explicitly prohibited her deportation or transfer from Massachusetts for 72 hours, immigration authorities had already moved Lopez Belloza to Texas. She was subsequently deported to Honduras on November 22.
Lopez Belloza’s complex immigration history reveals she originally entered the United States at age eight with her mother while seeking asylum. She maintains she was unaware of any existing removal order against her.
In his Friday ruling, Judge Stearns proposed two potential remedies: either the U.S. Department of State issues her a student visa, or the administration facilitates her return to the United States. The judge emphasized that the “simplest solution” would be visa issuance, while acknowledging jurisdiction limitations since Lopez Belloza was outside Massachusetts when legal proceedings began.
Government attorneys previously apologized for what they described as an “amalgam of errors,” specifically noting that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer failed to properly flag the court order, mistakenly believing it no longer applied once she left Massachusetts.
Lopez Belloza’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, welcomed the judicial intervention as a positive step toward negotiating his client’s return. The Justice Department has declined to comment on the ongoing proceedings. Lopez Belloza currently remains in Honduras with her grandparents.