CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Massachusetts college student who was deported while attempting to visit family for Thanksgiving missed several opportunities to contest a removal order issued when she was a young child, according to a government attorney.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old freshman at Babson College, was flown to Honduras just two days after being detained at Boston’s airport on Nov. 20, despite a court order issued on Nov. 21 that she remain in Massachusetts.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter responded on Wednesday in the case, arguing that the Boston judge's order lacked jurisdiction since Lopez Belloza was already en route to Texas for her deportation by that time.
Her attorney maintains that she was unaware of the removal order and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made it nearly impossible for her family to locate her during the deportation process.
The U.S. attorney noted that Lopez Belloza’s case could have been transferred to Texas, but claimed it wasn't necessary because she has since been released from custody in Honduras.
“ICE did not ‘spirit’ Petitioner to an unknown place or fail to disclose her whereabouts after her arrest on Nov. 20,” Sauter stated. He pointed out that she managed to contact her family that same afternoon, providing instructions on where to file a petition.
Lopez Belloza’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, contended that after the initial phone call home, ICE supplied no adequate way to track her. He emphasized that their office provided no information on her whereabouts after she was detained.
“We literally have to guess not only where our client is but why they’re being held because they don’t give us any information,” he commented in a phone interview on Friday.
Lopez Belloza, who arrived in the U.S. in 2014 at the age of 8, reportedly faced a removal order years later that her attorney argues was issued without her knowledge. The government reported that a judge ordered her removal and her mother's in March 2016, and that an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals was dismissed in February 2017.
Sauter stated that she had several pathways to challenge her removal, including appealing to the Fifth Circuit or seeking a stay from ICE. However, Pomerleau challenged this assertion, arguing that as a minor, Lopez Belloza was not informed of her options.
The court has scheduled a deadline for Pomerleau to formally respond by Dec. 11. As Lopez Belloza copes with her situation, she is collaborating with Babson College to take her finals and complete her internship remotely this semester. Her attorney praised her determination, stating, “She’s just a remarkable young woman, and we’re gonna ensure she continues to have a bright future.”
