Nearly four months after Babson College freshman Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was mistakenly deported while trying to visit her parents over Thanksgiving, students on Sunday said an enduring culture of fear has taken hold among international students at the school.
“I know friends who’ve canceled spring break plans, who’ve canceled even trips back home,” said Arnav Tibrewala, a Babson sophomore from India. “You’re looking forward to go back home, but you can’t because of all the worry and all the fear.”
“Everyone’s a little bit on edge,” he added.
On Sunday, approximately 100 students and faculty from Babson, Wellesley College, and Olin College gathered at the Wellesley Town Hall to demand Lopez Belloza’s return to Boston. Lopez Belloza remains in Honduras after she declined to take a flight back to the United States offered by immigration authorities in February, citing fears she would be detained again.
A judge ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration fulfilled its obligation to facilitate her return by offering the flight. Because Lopez Belloza declined to board the flight, the judge said, the court no longer has jurisdiction over the case.
Lopez Belloza’s attorneys appealed that decision, but the case has not yet been heard.
Speaking at Sunday’s rally, Todd Pomerleau, one of Lopez Belloza’s attorneys, criticized the deportation, saying it left her “traumatized” and accusing President Trump of acting like a “king.”
“We can’t tolerate this as a society,” Pomerleau said. “The rule of law has to matter. People’s rights have to matter.”
International students make up approximately 25 to 28 percent of Babson’s student body, according to the college’s website, and that figure rises to 39 percent when dual citizens are included.
Tibrewala, who is studying business at Babson on an F-1 visa, which allows international students to study in the United States, said he was initially afraid to attend the rally.
Immigration officials “instill fear in us against doing any sort of political action,” he said. “They’ve used even minor things like this as excuses to deport anyone.”
Nevertheless, Tibrewala said he chose to attend to highlight how immigration enforcement disrupts students’ education.
“I don’t think we should let it work,” he said.
Babson senior Danna Ayala said international students “feel unsafe” in the wake of Lopez Belloza’s deportation.
“At Babson, we pride ourselves in being from international backgrounds,” she said. “But with ICE [actions] happening outside of the Babson community, it’s like we’re stuck in this bubble of not wanting to leave campus.”
Alejandra Esquivel, Lopez Belloza’s former roommate at Babson, broke down in tears as she recalled their daily routine.
“We had a tradition of saying good morning to each other ... we would have dinner at the end of the day,” said Esquivel, 19, of Dallas. “It’s very lonely being inside [the room], especially when I did have such a good person with me.”
Lopez Belloza was abruptly deported shortly before Thanksgiving. Immigration officials took her into custody at Logan International Airport in Boston as she prepared to board a flight to Texas to surprise her parents.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement previously told the Globe that an immigration judge had ordered Lopez Belloza deported years earlier after she “unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico.”
Lopez Belloza entered the country with her mother in 2014 when she was around 8 years old, according to court filings. An immigration judge denied their asylum application and issued a removal order in 2017.
Pomerleau said repeatedly at the rally that Lopez Belloza was unaware of the deportation order.
“She’s not a criminal illegal alien,” he said. “She came here at the age of 8 ... and a decade later gets a full-ride scholarship to one of the best business colleges on Earth.”
In a letter read aloud at the rally by Ayala, Lopez Belloza said she frequently experiences panic and anxiety attacks.
“But I can’t give up,” Lopez Belloza wrote. “Deep down, I want to continue to fight so everything ends and I can return to Babson to pursue my education.”
Lopez Belloza’s former resident assistant, Lenny Castillo, recalled speaking with her days before her deportation, when she said she was homesick and looking forward to seeing her parents.
“She was just looking forward to going back home,” he said.
Castillo, a senior, said he struggled to support younger students leaning on him for advice and comfort in the weeks after Lopez Belloza’s deportation.
“I never experienced something like that, so it was kind of a learning curve for me as well,” he said. “But I’m glad I was still able to try to be that face and try to give them advice.”
Ben Spigel, 43, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson, said he attended the rally to ensure such an incident does not happen again.
“I love my freshmen, and I can’t imagine having one just ripped out of my class,” he said.
He added that international students at Babson, and even students who come from immigrant families, are concerned their work could be derailed by deportation.
Freshman Katherine Garcia, who met Lopez Belloza during freshman orientation, called on Massachusetts lawmakers to help secure her return.
“I hope, from the bottom of our hearts, that their leadership will be part of the answer,” she said.
Spigel, too, emphasized the need for more help from lawmakers.
“I really hope that this pushes everyone in the Massachusetts delegation that this should be their number one priority,” he said.
Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com.