Austin family of deported student targeted by immigration

The Austin-based family of a college student deported over Thanksgiving is allegedly being targeted by immigration services.

Any Lucía López Belloza, a 19-year-old freshman at Babson College in Massachusetts, was detained while trying to travel home to Texas on Nov. 20. Two days later, she was deported to Honduras, where she lived until her parents brought her to the U.S. 12 years ago.

Now, López Belloza’s family and their lawyer said agents appeared at their Austin home on Sunday. Agents in three unmarked cars as well as one agent in a green Enforcement and Removal Operations vest rushed toward the student’s father, Francis López, as he washed his car, the New York Times reported.

López fled into the backyard, which has a latched gate, but “the agent forced open the gate and proceeded to enter the backyard,” according to the Times. The agents left approximately two hours after López went into his house and locked the back door. The agents did not attempt to speak with López or knock on the door.

The student’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, confirmed the story to Spectrum News and said he recruited a volunteer attorney to protect López Belloza’s parents. He said immigration agents tried to “enter without a warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment” and called the incident “deeply disturbing.”

Pomerleau previously told Spectrum News that federal officials “illegally deported a child against a court order,” as any unmarried person under 21 — like López Belloza — is considered a child in immigration court. Pomerleau also said he could not find any record of a deportation order that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims was made against López Belloza in 2015.

López Belloza’s family was denied asylum in Texas after applying when she was 11 years old.