Judge dismisses case after deported Austin student declines flight

A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed by an Austin college student who was deported to Honduras, ruling that his Massachusetts court no longer had jurisdiction over her case after she declined to board a court-ordered flight back to the United States last week.

Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old college student at Babson College, was detained by ICE while trying to make a surprise trip to see her family in Austin. Within about 48 hours of her arrest, the agency deported her to Honduras.

Any Lucía López Belloza, a 20-year-old freshman at Babson College near Boston, was detained by immigration officials in November while traveling to surprise her Austin-based family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Authorities later transferred her to Texas before deporting her to Honduras, despite a federal court order directing the government not to deport her.

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Federal attorneys later said the deportation was a “mistake,” but argued the Massachusetts court lacked authority because López Belloza had already left the state by the time the order was issued.

U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns initially ordered the federal government to facilitate her return to the U.S. while the case proceeded. Officials arranged a flight for López Belloza to return last week, but she declined to board the plane after learning immigration officials intended to detain her upon arrival and potentially deport her again, according to her attorney, Todd Pomerleau.

In a Friday order, Stearns said López Belloza’s decision not to board the plane effectively ended the court’s ability to continue hearing the case.

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“The sad truth is that when Any declined the flight she also waived this court’s only remaining basis for jurisdiction,” the judge wrote in an electronic order dismissing the petition.

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López Belloza’s attorneys had argued the case should remain in Massachusetts federal court because immigration officials moved her quickly between detention centers, complicating efforts by her attorneys to file legal challenges.

Stearns rejected the argument, saying there was “no evidence” the government deliberately concealed her location from lawyers. Court records show López Belloza was listed in the immigration detention system as being held in Massachusetts for a full day before she was transferred to Texas, he wrote, giving her legal team time to file a petition there.

The judge also wrote that if López Belloza had returned to the U.S. on the arranged flight last week, she would have likely been held in the Southern District of Texas, where she could have filed a new legal challenge while a court order preventing her removal remained in place.

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Instead, Stearns ruled, the government’s compliance with the order to facilitate her return resolved the remaining dispute.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the American-Statesman’s request for comment.

López Belloza’s attorney said his team filed a notice of appeal just 30 minutes after the judge issued his ruling. The case will now go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.

“We’re confident we have a very good legal issue,” Pomerleau said Friday. “The problem is, Any’s not a legal issue. She’s a person.”

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Pomerleau told the Statesman that López Belloza has been taking online courses to continue her degree path at Babson while in Honduras, but he doesn’t anticipate her returning to campus until fall semester, at the earliest. He said she was worried that she would be detained if she boarded the court-ordered flight, potentially missing school and jeopardizing her studies.

“If she came back last week, she would’ve been in jail,” he said. “She might’ve been deported from the country again by now.”

López Belloza was subject to a removal order issued in 2017. She first entered the U.S. with her mother when she was 8 years old, and the family eventually settled in Austin. López Belloza’s legal team has begun a new case for legal status through a visa, which is currently in progress.

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U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said he would continue supporting the effort to bring López Belloza back to the U.S. through this hurdle, as well.

“Any should have never been deported in the first place,” Casar said. “I’ll continue to advocate for her safe return home until we get it done.”