(NewsNation) — The Trump administration was effectively told to bring a mistakenly deported woman back to the United States by Friday, Feb. 6, but her attorney tells NewsNation that federal officials have not indicated how they’ll make that happen.
“We’re just waiting for an answer on what they’re going to do,” Boston immigration lawyer Todd Pomerleau told “NewsNation Prime” on Saturday.
The case of Any Lucia Lopez Belloza drew wide attention after the Babson College student was detained in late November at Boston Logan International Airport before she could board a flight to surprise her family in Texas for the holiday.
Lopez Belloza, who entered the U.S. as a child, was quickly sent back to Honduras despite a judge’s order to keep her in the U.S. for at least 72 hours. On Jan. 16, a federal prosecutor apologized and blamed an ICE officer in Texas for the error, though the government says an immigration judge had ordered her removal a decade ago.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston last month gave the administration three weeks to “rectify its mistake,” Reuters reported. Meantime, attorney Pomerleau says he’s still waiting for the feds to comply.
“Right now, they haven’t even agreed to bring her back, nor has the judge forced their hand and ordered her returned,” he said.
The judge suggested Lopez Belloza could be allowed back in on a student visa, Pomerleau said, and his law firm filed a green card application on her behalf after she was wrongly deported.
“We filed a 10-page brief of all the different types of remedies that could be available to her under the law. We just need a willing dance partner here,” Pomerleau said. “The government hasn’t gotten back to me once.”
