A college freshman deported in what a federal judge later called an error was offered a flight back to the United States this week. She refused.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 20-year-old student at Babson College, said she declined to board a U.S.-arranged flight from Honduras after learning that immigration authorities could detain her upon arrival — and potentially deport her again.
Her case has become a flashpoint in the ongoing immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump, particularly after a judge ordered the government to correct what it acknowledged was a mistake.
Lopez Belloza was removed from the United States in November after being stopped at Logan International Airport while traveling domestically for Thanksgiving. A Massachusetts judge had issued a 72-hour order barring her deportation or transfer out of state the day before. Despite that, she was flown to Honduras — a country she left at age eight.
A government attorney later described the deportation as an error.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns directed federal officials to facilitate her return by the end of the week, effectively restoring the situation to what it had been before her removal. By Thursday, Lopez Belloza believed that was finally happening. A flight had been arranged. She said she felt hopeful.
That optimism unraveled within hours.
According to court filings, federal officials stated that once she arrived in the United States, they intended to move forward with her deportation again, citing a final removal order issued when she was 11. They maintained they had the authority to detain her upon arrival to carry out that order.
Lopez Belloza said she had initially been told she would be released after landing. The prospect of stepping off the plane and being taken into custody instead — possibly placed back into removal proceedings immediately — changed her decision.
She did not board.
Her attorney accused the administration of playing procedural games, arguing that facilitating her return only to detain her again undermines the spirit of the court’s directive. He has pledged to continue pressing for her return under conditions that do not involve handcuffs.
Federal officials, in turn, said the arranged flight was meant to restore the “status quo” — meaning her legal position as someone already subject to a final removal order. They also stated she did not appear at a pre-arranged meeting tied to her departure and failed to board the scheduled flight from San Pedro Sula.
For Lopez Belloza, the legal language feels distant from the lived reality. She describes a cycle of hope followed by reversal — first the mistaken deportation, then the promise of return shadowed by the threat of immediate detention.
For now, she remains in Honduras, her seat on the return flight left empty — a symbol of a case still caught between court orders and enforcement authority.
