A Massachusetts college student reported having been deported despite a court order that allowed him to remain in the United States, in a case that has raised strong questions about the procedures of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and respect for due process.
lucía López Belloza, 19-year-old freshman at Babson Collegewas arrested on November 20 in the Boston airport when trying to travel to visit his family for Thanksgiving. Two days later she was sent to Hondurascountry where he now resides with his grandparents.
In one affidavit filed in courtthe young woman described the emotional impact of the events. He said he spent a sleepless nighthearing the excitement of seeing your family and other crammed with 17 women in such a small cell that they could barely lie down on the ground.
Complaints for violations of due process
López Belloza arrived in the United States in 2014, when he was eight years old, and years later he issued a deportation order. However, he maintained that his Previous lawyer assured him that no such order existedso he never imagined that a travel with valid passport could end in expulsion.
“If I had known about my 2017 deportation orderI would not have traveled,” the student wrote. She added that she would have dedicated the last few years to hire a lawyer to regularize your immigration status and avoid the outcome he now faces far from home.
He government maintains that the young woman lost multiple opportunities to appeal his case and that, at the time a federal judge ordered on November 21 that she was not deported, she already was in Texasso the magistrate lacked jurisdiction over his situation.
The López Belloza lawyers They reject that version and assure that ICE made it practically impossible to locate her. They allege that The agency did not return calls to its Boston office. nor updated the detainee database, in addition to move her without allowing her to communicate with your family or legal defense.
According to the student’s testimony, whenand refused to sign a consent form for his deportation and asked to speak with a lawyer, an ICE agent “tall, muscular and intimidating” he told him that It didn’t matter who I talked to, because they were going to deport her anyway, Lucía López Belloza said.
The young woman added that later was able to call his parents from Massachusetts, but you don’t know reported that she would be transferred to Texas and then to Honduraswhich left her unable to alert her family or legal representatives about her whereabouts.
In one separate court filinghis lawyers accused the government of acting “in bad faith and with secrecy,” and requested that a hearing be scheduled to determine if violated the court order. They also asked that López Belloza be allowed to return to the United States to testify.
The Legal actions were strengthened with the support of seven retired federal judgeswho sent a letter to court one day after the lawyers’ presentation. In the document, they supported the request for a hearing for possible contempt of the court order.
The Retired justices warned that allowing the government to ignore deliberately the decisions of the courts represents a mockery of the Constitution and erodes public confidence in the judicial system, underscoring the institutional gravity of the case.
While the young man tries to put his life back together from Honduras, The process continues in US courts. The case of Lucía López Belloza has become a symbol of the debate on the limits of migratory power and respect for fundamental rights.