A teenage college student was deported to Honduras by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents despite a federal judge's orders blocking the 19-year-old's removal.
The teenager was identified as Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, who was about to board a plane from Boston Logan Airport to Texas to surprise her parents before being detained by ICE agents on Nov. 20. The incident was confirmed by her attorney, Todd Pomerleau.
College Student Deported to Honduras Against Judge's Order
Court documents showed that U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs had ordered that the teenager not be deported from the U.S. or transferred outside the state of Massachusetts. Despite this, Lopez Belloza was transferred to a detention facility in the southeast U.S.-Mexico border on Nov. 21, and subsequently deported to Honduras the day after.
Pomerleau said that what ICE did to the college student is "unconstitutional on so many levels." The attorney added that when Lopez Belloza went through TSA, she was surrounded, handcuffed, dragged out of the airport, thrown into a van, and taken to the Boston field office, according to People.
The attorney revealed that neither he nor his client had any idea about a removal order for the college student. Poemeleau noted that Lopez Belloza had protection from being removed from the country and that she was supposed to get her day in court. He argued that ICE agents violated his client's rights and denied her that opportunity.
Pormeleau is the founder of Mass Deportation Defense, which is serving immigrants in the Greater Boston area. The recently deported teenager is a business major at Babson College, who said she worked hard to be at Babson in her first semester, as it had been her dream.
A 2015 Removal Order
In response, a spokesperson for ICE confirmed that Lopez Belloza's removal was due to a deportation order that was issued in 2015. Now, Pomerleau said they are planning to take legal action to bring the college student back to the U.S., AA reported.
The situation comes after ICE detained an Oregon teenager, which sparked a walkout of students from McMinnville High School. They protested the government detaining 17-year-old Christian Jimenez, who was driving his father's car at the time he was detained.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the teenage student tried to use his vehicle to "violently attack" ICE and border patrol agents. It added that the teenager colluded with another driver to "barricade" agents before fleeing the scene, as per Oregon Live.
