A federal judge dismissed a wrongful deportation lawsuit after attorneys revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly lured a college student into a trap that would have resulted in her immediate re-deportation upon return to American soil.
ICE Admits Mistake, Judge Sides With Government
Federal District Judge Richard Stearns dismissed the case of Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 20-year-old Babson College student who was mistakenly deported to Honduras in November after being detained at Logan Airport. The student was traveling to Texas to visit family for Thanksgiving when ICE officers detained her without allowing phone calls to family or legal counsel. She was deported within 24 hours to a country she had not visited since age eight.
The federal government admitted an ICE officer failed to activate an alert system that would have prevented the wrongful deportation. Despite this admission, the judge ruled the case must be dismissed because Lopez Belloza declined a government-offered flight back to the United States.
WhatsApp Messages Reveal Alleged Deception
Court filings submitted the night before the dismissal included photographs of WhatsApp text messages between Lopez Belloza and ICE agent Raul Castro. The agent contacted her just one day before a court-ordered deadline to return her to America, offering a flight from Honduras to Harlingen, Texas. Castro told the student she would “most likely” be released upon arrival.
Attorney representation for Lopez Belloza called the offer a deliberate trap. Government court documents filed the same day revealed plans to detain and deport the student within 72 hours of her Texas arrival, directly contradicting the ICE agent’s assurances of likely freedom. The legal team argued the administration was attempting to evade judicial review of the detention’s legality.
Student Remains in Honduras, Education Disrupted
Judge Stearns wrote that Lopez Belloza waived the court’s jurisdictional basis by declining the flight, dissolving any civil contempt when the government complied with the facilitation order. The government had argued the case belonged in Texas courts since that was her detention location, though attorneys countered that federal officials had been deceptive about her whereabouts throughout the process.
Lopez Belloza remains in Honduras, separated from her college education and social connections. Her attorney noted the government provided no travel details until day 13 of the two-week court-ordered window. The case highlights ongoing tensions between immigration enforcement procedures and constitutional due process protections, particularly regarding the rights of individuals wrongfully targeted for deportation despite legal status.