A U.S. District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by an Austin college student who was deported to Honduras, ruling that a Massachusetts court no longer had jurisdiction over her case because she refused to board a court-ordered flight back to the United States last week.
Lucía López Belloza, a 20-year-old freshman at Babson College near Boston, was detained by immigration officials last November as she traveled to Austin to prepare for her family’s Thanksgiving holiday. Although a federal court ordered the government not to deport her, authorities later moved her to Texas and then deported her to Honduras.
Federal prosecutors later said the deportation was a “mistake” but argued that the Massachusetts court lacked authority because Lopez Bellosa had left the state by the time the order was issued.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns initially ordered the federal government to facilitate her return to the United States while the case was pending. Lopez-Belloza’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said officials arranged a flight home for Lopez-Belloza last week, but she refused to board the flight after learning immigration officials intended to detain her upon arrival and possibly deport her again.
In Friday’s order, Stearns said Lopez-Belosa’s decision not to board the flight effectively ended the court’s ability to continue hearing the case.
“The sad fact is that when Arnie refused to fly, she also gave up the court’s only remaining basis for jurisdiction,” the judge wrote in an electronic order dismissing the petition.
More: Lopez Bellosa refused to fly to U.S. fearing immediate deportation, lawyer says
Lopez-Belosa’s lawyers argued that the case should stay in federal court in Massachusetts because immigration officials quickly moved her between detention centers, complicating her lawyers’ efforts to mount a legal challenge.
Stearns disputed that claim, saying there was “no evidence” the government intentionally concealed her location from lawyers. He wrote that court records show Lopez Bellosa was placed in the immigration detention system and held for a full day in Massachusetts before being transferred to Texas, giving her legal team time to file the petition there.
The judge also wrote that if Lopez Bellosa had returned to the United States on an arranged flight last week, she would likely have been held in the Southern District of Texas, where she could file new legal challenges while a court order blocking her deportation remained in effect.
Instead, Stearns ruled that the government’s compliance with the order facilitating her return resolved the remaining dispute.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the American Statesman’s request for comment.
Lopez Bellosa’s attorney said his team filed the notice of appeal just 30 minutes after the judge’s ruling. The case will now go to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
“We believe we have resolved the legal issues very well,” Pomerleau said Friday. “The thing is, Annie is not a legal matter. She is a human being.”
Pomerleau told the Statesman that Lopez-Belosa has been taking online classes while in Honduras to continue working on her degree at Babson University, but he doesn’t expect her to return to campus until the fall semester at the earliest. He said she feared that if she boarded the court-ordered flight, she would be detained, potentially miss class and jeopardize her education.
“If she had come back last week, she would have been in jail,” he said. “She may now be deported again.”
López Belloza is the subject of a deportation order issued in 2017. She first entered the United States with her mother when she was 8 years old, and the family eventually settled in Austin. Lopez Bellosa’s legal team has begun a new case seeking legal status through a visa, which is currently underway.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said he would also continue to support efforts to get Lopez Belosa back to the United States over this hurdle.
“No one should have been deported in the first place,” Casal said. “I will continue to advocate for her safe return until we complete our mission.”
