AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge has dismissed the immigration case of an Austin student who was deported to Honduras while trying to fly home for Thanksgiving, ruling the lawsuit should have been filed in Texas rather than Massachusetts.
Twenty-year-old Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a student at Babson College near Boston, was detained by immigration officials in November as she attempted to fly from Boston to her family in Austin. She was later flown to Honduras despite a federal court order in Massachusetts directing the government not to deport her.
U.S. attorneys later apologized, calling the deportation a “mistake,” but argued the Massachusetts court did not have jurisdiction because Lopez Belloza had already left the state when the order was issued.
Her attorney, Todd C. Pomerleau, said the judge dismissed the case after agreeing with the federal government that the lawsuit should have been filed in Texas.
“We strongly disagree and therefore have filed a notice of appeal,” Pomerleau said, adding the case will now go to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
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Earlier court filings indicated immigration officials intended to take her into custody upon her return to the country to carry out a final order of removal.
During a press call on Friday, February 27, Lopez Belloza said learning she could be deported again left her feeling angry and powerless.
“I am angry because this should not happen to anyone regardless of immigration status,” she said. “I am sad because no one should ever have to feel this powerless.”
Pomerleau said he believes the federal government intended to detain her if she returned.
“The government was setting a trap and planned on putting her in jail in Texas to immediately seek to deport her,” he said.
For now, Pomerleau said Lopez Belloza will remain in Honduras while the case moves through the appeals process.
“We will argue to the Court of Appeals that this case was properly filed in Boston,” he said. “Any will remain in Honduras for the foreseeable future.”