Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old college student at Babson College, was detained by ICE while trying to make a surprise trip to see her family in Austin. Within about 48 hours of her arrest, the agency deported her to Honduras.
Courtesy of Todd Pomerleau
Deported Austin college student Any Lucía López Belloza did not board a court-ordered flight back to the United States on Friday after her attorneys said the federal government planned to detain and deport her again upon her arrival.
Friday marked the deadline set two weeks ago by a federal district court judge for the federal government to return López Belloza, a 20-year-old Honduran national whom U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested at a Boston airport and promptly deported during Thanksgiving week despite a federal court order pausing her removal. News of her deportation drew national attention, underscoring the reach of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Article continues below this ad
An ICE agent contacted López Belloza on Thursday morning to offer her a 1 p.m. Friday flight to Harlingen in South Texas from San Pedro Sula, where she has been living with her grandparents since her deportation to Honduras, according to court documents obtained by the American-Statesman. The agent told López Belloza that she would most likely be allowed to go free upon her arrival, she said from Honduras during a Friday video news conference.
During the news conference and in a Friday afternoon court filing, López Belloza’s legal team and advocates said they believe the government is attempting to entrap López Belloza upon her return, keeping her in immigration custody as it moves to deport her again.
“In all likelihood, they’re going to land a plane, hide her from us again, not even let her make a phone call — and then just treat this like a turnstile and send her back to Honduras,” her principal attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said during the news conference.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s requests for comment Friday. The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement, said that it had attempted to set up a flight for López Belloza but that she had “failed to appear.”
Article continues below this ad
Homeland Security did not directly respond to the Statesman’s question about whether it planned to detain López Belloza if she returned to the United States.
“For operational security purposes, ICE does not disclose future law enforcement operations,” the statement said.
Pomerleau pointed to the government’s Thursday court filing — a motion to dismiss the case — as evidence that federal officials intend to remove López Belloza upon her return. In that filing, government lawyers told the court that while returning her would satisfy the judge’s order to restore the “status quo,” the government could still seek to deport her based on what it says is an existing removal order from 2017, when she was 11.
Her mother brought her to the United States when she was 8 years old, and the family eventually settled in Austin. López Belloza’s team has challenged the argument that the judge’s order would allow her to be detained upon her return.
Article continues below this ad
Related: ICE agents attempt to arrest Austin father of deported student, lawyer says
“That anybody could sit here and say that is the sort of [thing] that the judge is ordering is simply false,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group that has been helping López Belloza and her family.
Pomerleau has emphasized that his client would only return to the United States if she can live outside of detention and continue her schooling at Babson College while immigration proceedings play out. He has said that López Belloza has begun a new case for legal status through her mother.
López Belloza called the past two days a “roller coaster” that has toyed with her emotions, raising her sense of hope only for it to be pulled back down again.
Article continues below this ad
Calling the United States her home, López Belloza said she was committed to continuing to fight to return.
“I have built my life in the United States,” she added. “My friends, my community, my future are there. I have worked hard for their approval, and tried to give back to the place that raised me. I have dreams just like anyone else. I want to continue my education. I want to build my career. I want to support my family. I want to keep contributing to the country I call home.”