A Babson College student who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration must be returned, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns ordered that Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 20-year-old student at Babson, must be brought back from Honduras within 14 days of the ruling.
“In this unfortunate case, the government commendably admits that it did wrong,” the judge wrote in his order. “Now it is time for the government to make amends.”
Stearns ordered the government to file a status report by Feb. 18, detailing a “tangible” plan to bring Lopez Belloza back to the U.S. by the Feb. 27 deadline.
Lopez Belloza was detained Nov. 20 at Logan Airport while attempting to travel to visit her family in Texas for Thanksgiving. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handcuffed her and flew her to a detention center in Texas, according to court documents.
A judge issued a temporary stay of removal while she was still in the United States, but because of an admitted “clerical error,” ICE deported her to Honduras despite the order.
Lopez Belloza entered the country with her mother in 2014 when she was 8 years old, according to court documents. Their asylum application was denied, and an immigration judge issued a removal order against Lopez Belloza in 2017, when she was around 11.
Lopez Belloza graduated high school in 2025 and began her freshman year at Babson in the fall.
Since being mistakenly deported, Lopez Belloza has continued attending classes remotely while living with her grandparents in Honduras.
In his ruling Friday, Stearns said the Trump administration “readily acknowledged that they violated the Emergency Judge’s order staying removal when they removed Any from the United States.” He previously suggested the government provide Lopez Belloza with an expedited student visa to continue her studies at Babson while her status is litigated, an action the Trump administration has so far declined to take.
In January, 80 members of Congress signed a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, calling on the government to facilitate Lopez Belloza’s return.
