Dozens of members of Congress — including both Massachusetts senators — are pressing the federal government to allow a Babson College student to immediately return to the United States after what the government has acknowledged was a wrongful deportation.
Earlier this month, 25 Investigates reported that Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old Babson College freshman, was deported just days after she was detained at Logan Airport. Belloza was traveling to Texas to visit her family for Thanksgiving and said she did not realize her student visa had expired.
A federal judge ordered that Belloza not be deported. Despite that order, the Department of Homeland Security violated the judge’s directive and deported her to Honduras. Federal officials later admitted the mistake in court.
On Wednesday, lawmakers sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, writing in part: “We appreciate your acknowledgment of your error and ask that you remedy the harm you have caused this young woman and her family by allowing her to return to the United States to pursue the legal options available to her.”
Belloza came to the United States at the age of 8 and has no criminal record.
Speaking with 25 Investigates earlier this month, Belloza said she wants to return to campus and continue her education.
“I just want to go back to Babson and continue my studies. That’s all I dream for,” Belloza told 25 Investigates’ Kerry Kavanaugh. “Being one of the first in the family to just go to college. I just wanted to have that for them and also for me.”
Belloza’s attorney told 25 Investigates that a judge has ordered DHS to come up with a remedy to resolve her situation by February 13. Options include allowing her to apply for a student visa.
On Wednesday, DHS told 25 investigators that they did not make a mistake.
“There was no “mistake.” The court order to stop her removal was issued AFTER she was already removed. She received full due process including a final order of removal from a judge.
“On November 20, CBP arrested Any Lopez-Belloza, an illegal alien from Honduras, as she was attempting to board a flight at Boston Logan International Airport. This illegal alien entered the country in 2014 and an immigration judge issued her a final order removal in 2015. She was removed to Honduras.
“Illegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to fly home for free and receive $1,000 stipend, while preserving the option to return the legal, right way. It’s an easy choice leave voluntarily and receive $1,000 check or stay and wait till you are fined $1,000 day, arrested, and deported without a possibility to return legally.”
— ASSISTANT SECRETARY TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN
According to the court transcript obtained by 25 Investigates, the government did acknowledge the error in court.
“At the top, on behalf of the government, I want to sincerely apologize for the inadvertent violation of the court’s stay that was entered in this case. The government regrets that violation and acknowledges that violation,” said Mark Sauter, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, in a January 13 court hearing.
“In this case, specifically, the court order was provided to ICE within ten minutes of its issuance on a Friday evening. That order was sent to a deportation officer who is not from a unit that typically has the responsibility of sitting as a duty officer,” Sauter continued
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