College Freshman Ends Up Quickly Deported at Airport

A 19-year-old college freshman in Massachusetts got an unexpected lesson in the nation's aggressive new deportation policies ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. As the New York Times reports, Any Lucia Lopez Belloza went to Logan Airport intending to fly to Texas in a surprise visit to her parents. Instead, immigration officers stopped her from boarding the flight, then whisked her off first to a detention center in Texas and then onto a flight to Honduras. Now the Babson College student and her family are scrambling to see if she can return.

Lopez Belloza came to the US at the age of 7 with her family, per the Boston Globe. The teen's father said they fled rampant crime and applied for asylum in the US, but the request was denied. This apparently led to a deportation order a decade ago—an attorney for the family is struggling to find documentation, per the Guardian—but the family says they were unaware of it until Lopez Belloza's airport arrest. Such orders have often gone unenforced under previous administrations, but things have changed in President Trump's second term.

The bottom line is that Lopez Belloza "unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico," says a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is committed to prioritizing public safety." The teen is now staying with her grandparents in Honduras, hoping to get a reprieve. "I have worked so hard to be able to be at Babson my first semester, that was my dream," she tells the Globe. "I'm losing everything."

Babson says it is supporting Lopez Belloza and her family, the AP reports. "Our ability to share specifics is limited by law, but please know that our focus remains on supporting the student and their family, as well as the wellbeing of our community," the college's dean of campus life, Caitlin Capozzi, said in a message to faculty and staff. "Relevant faculty and staff have been informed so they can provide appropriate academic and community support in the student's absence."