A U.S. District Court judge ordered the federal government to return deported Austin college student Any Lucía López Belloza by Friday — but officials said Thursday they would do so only to immediately detain and deport her again.

The American-Statesman obtained a copy of the Thursday afternoon court filing outlining the government’s position, which was submitted a day before the judge’s deadline for López Belloza, a 20-year-old freshman college student at Babson College, to be returned from her native Honduras. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested López Belloza during Thanksgiving week last year as she attempted to board a flight at Boston’s Logan International Airport to surprise her Austin-based parents. The agency then quickly deported her, moving her to Texas and then out of the country in two days, despite a federal judge in Massachusetts pausing her removal. Government lawyers have since argued that because she was moved to Texas so quickly, the Massachusetts court where López Belloza’s case has played out lacks jurisdiction over the proceedings. 

U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, who is presiding over the case, has previously agreed with the government that his court lacks jurisdiction over the habeas corpus motion that López Belloza’s attorney filed to have her released from ICE custody. But he has ruled that the court can review the case for contempt of court and to seek “a remedy” for López Belloza. 

The government’s Thursday filing sought to dismiss the initial habeas corpus motion and to vacate her return order.  

“If Petitioner was returned to the United States to the ‘status quo’ that existed prior to her removal, Petitioner still would be subject to a final order of removal and ICE would be authorized to detain and remove Petitioner pursuant to such order,” the filing said. 

López Belloza’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, expressed anger Thursday afternoon over the government’s decision. 

“They’re playing games,” Pomerleau told the Statesman by text. “We will vigorously oppose this motion.” 

Pomerleau said that his client would not board a plane to return to the United States if the government moved to immediately detain her. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat from Austin, also condemned the government’s filing. 

“Unacceptable. Outrageous,” Casar said. “Any should be allowed to return to school in Boston immediately. We’ll keep fighting until she’s home.” 

The Department of Justice declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

López Belloza’s mother brought her to the United States when she was 8 years old. The family — López Belloza, her father, mother and two U.S.-born younger siblings — eventually settled in Austin, where she lived until she left for college.

The Department of Homeland Security has said it acted on a 2017 removal order for López Belloza and has denied that it acted improperly when it removed her despite the pause issued by a federal judge. However, government lawyers said in federal court last month that ICE agents made a mistake by not following the court’s pause on the deportation, a statement that prompted Stearns to order the government to return López Belloza to the United States “to make amends.”