Judge Proposes Student Visa to Reunite 19-Year-Old Babson Student Mistakenly Deported to Honduras

A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday urged the U.S. government to fix what he called a "bureaucratic mess" by issuing a student visa to a 19-year-old college student who was deported to Honduras after being arrested at Boston's airport while trying to visit family for Thanksgiving.

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns raised the prospect of a visa as a "practical solution" during a hearing on a lawsuit filed by Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a Babson College student who was removed from the United States in apparent violation of a court order.

Lopez Belloza—who was brought to the United States from Honduras by her parents when she was eight—was arrested at Logan Airport on Nov. 20 based on a removal order she says she did not know existed. Her attorney filed a legal challenge to her detention the following day.

On Nov. 21, a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary order barring Lopez Belloza from being deported or transferred out of the state for 72 hours. By the time that order issued, however, she had already been flown to Texas, a move that could have stripped the Massachusetts court of jurisdiction. She was subsequently flown to Honduras on Nov. 22.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter acknowledged in court that the Nov. 21 order had been violated. He attributed the violation to a mistake by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who believed the order no longer applied and failed to properly flag or hold Lopez Belloza. "On behalf of the government, we want to sincerely apologize," Sauter told the judge, while arguing there were no grounds to hold officials in contempt.

"We all recognize a mistake was made," Judge Stearns said, adding: "She's a very sympathetic person, and there should be some means to addressing this."

Todd Pomerleau, Lopez Belloza's lawyer, asked the court to order the government to facilitate his client's return and to hold officials in contempt for violating the temporary order. "The rule of law ought to matter," he told the judge.

Stearns did not issue an immediate ruling. As an alternative remedy, he proposed that the State Department consider issuing Lopez Belloza a student visa so she could return to finish her education at Babson College. The suggestion was offered as a way to remedy the harm to a young student while the legal dispute is resolved.

Sauter described the incident as rare, noting it occurred among more than 700 cases filed in Massachusetts by migrants challenging their detention since President Donald Trump took office and pursued a tougher immigration agenda. The judge praised the government's acknowledgement of the error and emphasized the human stakes in deciding an appropriate remedy.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Rosalba O'Brien.)