A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to return Babson College freshman Any Lucia Lopez Belloza to the United States within two weeks, saying it was time to “make amends” for mistakenly deporting her to Honduras in November in violation of a court order.
“In this unfortunate case, the government commendably admits that it did wrong,” US District Judge Richard G. Stearns wrote in the eight-page order. “Now it is time for the government to make amends.”
He ordered the government to facilitate Lopez Belloza’s return no later than Feb. 27. He said the order was necessary because the government had “regrettably” declined his offer to resolve the case by voluntarily allowing her to come back to finish her studies.
Lopez Belloza, who turned 20 a couple of weeks ago, was abruptly deported before Thanksgiving. She was at Logan Airport, preparing to board a flight to Texas to surprise her parents for the holiday when she was taken into custody by immigration officials.
On Friday, minutes after the order was issued, Lopez Belloza’s attorney said he broke the news to her during a telephone call to Honduras, where she is staying with her grandparents.
“She broke down in tears of joy,” the lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, said. “She’s really been through a lot, but she’s strong and resilient.”
He said she recognizes the case is about more than just her, and hopes it will lead to changes for “dreamers” like her who came to the United States as children, want a better life, and “love America.”
Christina DiIorio Sterling, a spokesperson for the US attorney’s office, said, “The government is reviewing the order and will respond accordingly.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement previously told the Globe in a statement that years ago an immigration judge had ordered Lopez Belloza deported after she “unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico.”
Lopez Belloza entered the country with her mother in 2014 when she was around 8, according to court filings. An immigration judge denied Lopez Belloza and her mother’s asylum application, and a removal order was issued against her in 2017.
Lopez Belloza has said she was unaware of the deportation order against her and was shocked by her arrest.
On Nov. 21, the day after Lopez Belloza was taken into custody at the airport, her lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in Boston seeking her release. A judge issued an emergency order prohibiting the government from moving her out of state or deporting her while that case was pending. But by then, she had already been transferred to a detention center in Texas. And the following day, she was deported to Honduras, where she hadn’t been to since she was 7. Since then, she’s been attending classes remotely.
Pomerleau had urged the judge to find the government in contempt for violating the court order.
During a hearing in January in federal court in Boston, an assistant US attorney apologized to Stearns, saying an ICE agent had misread the court order, leading to Lopez Belloza’s deportation.
Stearns suggested the “simplest solution” to rectify the error would be for the State Department to grant Lopez Belloza a non-immigrant student visa to return and complete her studies in-person at Babson while her immigration cases plays out in the courts. He directed the Justice Department to convey his proposal to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But the US attorney’s office rebuffed the judge’s proposal as “unfeasible,” writing in a court filing last week that Lopez Belloza appeared to be ineligible for a student visa and “was subject to a final order of removal and would remain subject to detention and removal if returned to the United States.”
ICE considered returning Lopez Belloza to the United States to the status quo that existed immediately prior to her removal, “but respectfully declines to pursue this course of action” as her arrest, detention, and removal “was authorized by statute and also comported with the Constitution,” Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter wrote in the filing.
In Friday’s order, Stearns wrote that in making that argument, the government “confused the prerogatives of the Executive with those of the Judiciary.”
He said it was up to the courts to determine the extent of Lopez Belloza’s due process rights and the legality of her removal.
“This is not an issue for the Executive to prejudge and arrogate to itself, whatever stance it may choose to take in litigating the removal issue before a court of law,” Stearns wrote.
On Friday, Pomerleau said he was hopeful Lopez Belloza will be allowed to return to her studies at Babson while her immigration case continues.
“She’s not the worst of the worst,” said Pomerleau, referring to the Trump administration’s pledge to crack down on violent offenders who are in the country illegally. “She’s among the best of the best that I’ve ever met.”
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.