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Topics: Massachusetts, News, World News, Immigration, Politics
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Massachusetts, News, World News, Immigration, Politics
The Trump administration has apologized after deporting a young woman by mistake.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza traveled to the US from Honduras in 2014 when she was just eight years old. She's lived in the US ever since, and is currently studying at Babson College in Massachusetts.
Lopez Belloza's parents live in Texas and back in November, she went to fly home to surprise them for Thanksgiving. Instead, she found herself being deported to Honduras.
Reportedly there's been a deportation order on Lopez Belloza since 2017, but she insisted that she's never been aware of this.
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With this order in mind, the college student was stopped at Boston airport on November 20. Just 48 hours later she was shipped off to Honduras, where she is now staying with her grandparents.
But Lopez Belloza's deportation came after a federal judge issued an emergency order on November 21 prohibiting the government from moving her out of Massachusetts or the United States for at least 72 hours.
When ICE learned about the order stopping Lopez Belloza from being deported the 19-year-old was in Texas. Since she'd already left Massachusetts, an ICE officer believed the order no longer applied therefore she went on to be deported to Honduras.
In addition to this, the ICE officer did not activate the proper channels that alert other ICE officers that a case is subject to judicial review and that removal should be halted.
In the light of the officer's error Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter has apologized.
Speaking at a court hearing on Tuesday (January 13), Sauter told the judge: "On behalf of the government, we want to sincerely apologize."
He added that the officer in question understands that he made a mistake and that the violation of the court order was 'an inadvertent mistake by one individual, not a wilful act of violating a court order'.
While they've apologized, the government has not agreed to bring Lopez Belloza back to the US.
Questions remain about whether the 19-year-old knew about the reported deportation order that she was already facing.
The government have argued that Lopez Belloza missed several opportunities to appeal the deportation order.
But the college student is instant that she had no idea it was in place and that her previous lawyer assured her that was there no removal order against her, AP reports.
She said: "If I had been aware of my 2017 deportation order, I would not have traveled with my valid passport.
"I would have dedicated significant time and effort during the past eight years to hiring an attorney who could help me resolve my immigration situation."