A college freshman trying to drive from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her lawyer.
Lawyer Todd Pomerleau said 19-year-old Lucia Lopez Belloza had already passed through security at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 when she was told there was a problem with her boarding pass. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and deported within two days to Texas and then to Honduras, where she had moved when she was seven.
“He’s completely heartbroken,” Pomerleau said. “His college dreams are shattered.”
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an immigration judge ordered Lopez Belloza deported in 2015. Pomerleau said he was not aware of any expungement order, and the only record he found indicates his case was closed in 2017.
“They are holding her responsible for something they claim happened a decade ago about which she is completely ignorant and are showing no evidence,” the lawyer said.
The day after López Belloza’s arrest, a federal judge issued an emergency order barring the government from transporting him to Massachusetts or the United States for at least 72 hours. ICE did not respond to an email Friday from The Associated Press seeking comment about the violations of that order. Babson College also did not respond to an email seeking comment.
López Belloza, who is living with her grandparents in Honduras, told the Boston Globe that she was eager to tell her parents and younger sisters about her first semester of studying business.
“That was my dream,” she said. “I’m losing everything.”
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