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A federal judge is being urged to force the government to develop a plan to deport a Babson College student wrongfully deported to Honduras before Thanksgiving. The student’s attorney made the request in a court filing Friday.
Babson College freshman Lucia Lopez Belloza was detained at a Boston airport on Nov. 20 as she prepared to fly home to surprise her family for the holidays. She was deported to Honduras two days later. This happened despite an emergency court order requiring her to stay in the United States for at least 72 hours. While government lawyers acknowledged in court that they violated the judge’s order, they argued the court lacked jurisdiction.
“The petitioners are not asking the court to micromanage foreign affairs or prescribe out-of-scope outcomes. governmentHer attorney, Todd Pomerleau, wrote, “The petition asks for a limited, transparent, and practical process: asking the government to identify and take available steps—across Department of Homeland Security components and, if necessary, with State Council –Return the petition to the United States. “
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Pomerleau asked a judge to order the government to develop a plan within 14 days.
One of the proposed options is for Bellosa to be returned to the United States “for the limited and urgent purposes of restitution and allowing the applicant to proceed with the appropriate immigration process.” She would also be allowed to continue applying for a pending T visa, which is issued to those who have been victims of human trafficking. Another option is a student visa, although Pomerleau noted that “often requires consular processing and is complicated by the presence of a final deportation order and related inadmissibility issues.”
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lopez Belloza, whose family immigrated to the United States from Honduras in 2014, is living with her grandparents and studying remotely. She is not in custody and was recently visiting an aunt El Salvador.
Her case is the latest involving deportations despite court orders. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador despite a ruling that should have prevented that from happening. this trump card The government initially resisted efforts to bring him back to the United States but eventually agreed after the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. Last June, a Guatemalan man identified as OCG was deported to the United States after a judge found he was deportable from the United States. Mexico There may be “a lack of any due process.”
Pomerleau mentioned both cases in court filings Friday.
At a federal court hearing on Tuesday bostonthe government argued that the court lacked jurisdiction because Lopez Bellosa’s lawyers filed the lawsuit hours after she arrived Texas On the way abroad. But the government also admitted it violated the judge’s order.
The government insists her deportation is legal because an immigration judge ordered Lopez Bellosa and her mother deported in 2016 and the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected their appeal in 2017. Prosecutors said she could have filed more appeals or sought a stay of deportation.
Pomerleau countered that her deportation was a clear violation of the Nov. 21 order and said the government’s actions denied her due process. “I hope the government will show some leniency and bring her back,” he said. “They violated the court order.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said he appreciated the government’s admission of the error, calling it a “tragic” bureaucratic error. But he appeared to rule out defiance of the government, noting that the breach did not appear to be intentional. He also questioned whether he had jurisdiction over the case and appeared to side with the government, arguing the court order was filed hours after she was taken to the hospital. Texas.