The US government will not facilitate the return of a Honduran student deported in violation of a court order, calling a judge’s proposal “unfeasible”.
BOSTON: The Trump administration has refused to facilitate the return of a college student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order.
In a Friday filing, the US Justice Department called a federal judge’s proposal to issue her a visa “unfeasible”, stating the student “appears inadmissible to the United States”.
US District Judge Richard Stearns had given officials until Friday to decide how to “rectify the mistake” of deporting Any Lucia Lopez Belloza. The 20-year-old Babson College freshman was detained at an airport while travelling to Texas for Thanksgiving.
READ MORE: US judge urges visa for student wrongly deported to Honduras
She is a Honduran national brought to the US by her mother at age eight while seeking asylum. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acknowledged her deportation was an “inadvertent” violation of a court order.
However, the agency also declines to facilitate her return. A Justice Department lawyer stated her “arrest, detention and removal were authorised by statute and the Constitution” as she was subject to a final removal order.
Lopez Belloza has said she was unaware of that final order, which formed the basis of her arrest. She was flown to Honduras on November 22.
This occurred despite her lawyer securing a court order in Massachusetts on November 21 barring her deportation or transfer for 72 hours. She remains in Honduras with her grandparents.
At a hearing last month, a government lawyer apologised for the violation. He described it as a “mistake” by an ICE officer who failed to properly flag the court order.
Judge Stearns, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, may order the administration to facilitate her return. He has held out the possibility of holding it in civil contempt if it does not.
“We will continue to litigate this case till Any is brought back to the United States,” her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, said in a statement.
