U.S ISSUES APOLOGY FOR DEPORTATION ERROR INVOLVING MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE STUDENT WHILE DEFENDING THE DECISION. (PHOTO).

 U.S issues apology for deportation error involving Massachusetts college student while defending the decision

 The Trump administration apologized in federal court for a “mistake” in deporting 19-year-old Massachusetts college student Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, who was detained while attempting to fly home for Thanksgiving, but argued the error should not change the legality of her removal. Lopez Belloza, a freshman at Babson College, was held at Boston’s airport on Nov. 20 and flown to Honduras two days later, despite an emergency court order issued on Nov. 21 requiring her to remain in the U.S. for at least 72 hours.

Lopez Belloza, whose family emigrated from Honduras in 2014, is now staying with her grandparents and attending school remotely, and recently visited an aunt in El Salvador. At a Boston federal court hearing, the government argued the court lacked jurisdiction because her lawyers filed the case hours after she arrived in Texas en route out of the country. Government attorneys acknowledged that an ICE officer mistakenly assumed the order no longer applied once she left Massachusetts and failed to notify other ICE offices. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter apologized in court, describing the violation as “an inadvertent mistake by one individual, not a willful act of violating a court order.”

The government maintained that Lopez Belloza’s deportation was lawful, noting a 2016 immigration judge order and a 2017 dismissal of her appeal by the Board of Immigration Appeals, and said she could have sought additional appeals or a stay. Her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said the removal violated the court order and deprived her of due process, calling for leniency. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns called the incident a “tragic” bureaucratic error but indicated he was unlikely to hold the government in contempt, questioning whether the court had jurisdiction. He suggested Lopez Belloza could pursue a student visa, while Pomerleau said a potential resolution might allow her to return to the U.S. to continue her studies while reopening the underlying removal order.