College Student Deported on Thanksgiving Trip Home Fights to Return to U.S.

A 19-year-old college freshman who had spent most of her life in Texas is now fighting to return to the United States after she was detained and deported while traveling home for Thanksgiving break.

Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a Babson College student studying business, was preparing to board a flight from Boston to Austin on November 20 when federal immigration officials arrested her at the gate, according to her attorney, Todd Pomerleau. Lopez Belloza thought there was a problem with her boarding pass when she was stopped — instead, she was handcuffed and escorted away.

Within 48 hours, she was transported through Texas and then sent to Honduras — the country where she was born but hasn’t lived since she was 7 years old.

Her attorney says the removal violated a federal judge’s order that barred the government from deporting her while a lawsuit over her arrest moved forward. Pomerleau also argues she was never shown proof of a deportation order, which the Department of Homeland Security claims was issued in 2015. He maintains that the only records he has found indicate her case was closed in 2017.

Lopez Belloza, who earned a scholarship to attend Babson, had hoped her business degree one day would help her father open his own tailor shop. He currently lives in Texas with her two younger sisters, ages 2 and 5.

In statements to the campus community, Babson officials acknowledged the student’s detention but said privacy laws prevent them from sharing details. They added the school remains focused on supporting Lopez Belloza’s family and classmates.

Speaking from Honduras to The Boston Globe, Lopez Belloza said the abrupt deportation shattered what was supposed to be an exciting first break from college. “I have worked so hard to be able to be at Babson my first semester, that was my dream,” she said.

Her attorney now plans to ask a federal judge to order the government to return her to the U.S., calling her deportation “an egregious violation of her due process rights.”

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