Agents showed up at the home of 19-year-old Any Lucía López Belloza’s parents days after her controversial deportation to Honduras.
Immigration enforcement agents appeared outside the Austin, Texas, home of a recently deported college freshman on Sunday, escalating fears for a family already reeling from her sudden removal from the United States.
The student, Any Lucía López Belloza, a 19-year-old freshman at Babson College in Massachusetts, was deported to Honduras in November after being detained at Boston Logan International Airport while trying to fly home to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving.
Unmarked Vehicles, No Knock, and a Forced Gate
According to the family and their lawyer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived at the López family’s Austin residence on Sunday in three unmarked vehicles. One agent wearing a green vest marked “E.R.O.,” indicating ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, approached Any’s father, Francis López, while he was washing his car in the driveway.
López said he retreated to his backyard and closed a latched gate. The agent forced the gate open and entered the backyard before López was able to get back inside and lock the rear door. The family says the agents never knocked on the door or attempted to speak with them. After roughly two hours, the agents left without making contact.
The incident has left the family shaken and has intensified concerns among immigrant communities that enforcement may continue even after a deportation has been carried out.
A Thanksgiving Surprise That Ended in Deportation
López Belloza’s case gained national attention after she was detained on Nov. 20 at Logan Airport, where she was beginning a trip from Boston to Austin. She had planned to surprise her family over Thanksgiving break.
Instead, she was taken into ICE custody, moved between facilities, and deported to Honduras two days later, despite a federal judge issuing an emergency order on Nov. 21 instructing authorities not to remove her from the United States while her case was pending.
López Belloza, who came to the U.S. as a child and grew up in Texas, is now staying with her grandparents in Honduras while trying to complete her first semester at Babson remotely.
Dispute Over a Years-Old Removal Order
Homeland Security officials have said López Belloza was deported based on a longstanding removal order that dates back several years. Government filings claim an immigration judge ordered her and her mother removed around 2015–2016, and that an appeal was dismissed the following year.
Her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, disputes elements of that narrative. He says the family was never properly informed of the consequences of the earlier asylum denial, that Any was a minor at the time, and that she had no meaningful way to understand or challenge the order. Pomerleau also says he has struggled to locate complete records of the original order and argues that deporting her after a federal court issued a stay violated her rights.
Immigration authorities have maintained that she received due process and that the court in Massachusetts lacked jurisdiction by the time its order was issued because she had already been moved out of the state.
College Community and Advocates Respond
Babson College has publicly expressed concern and instructed faculty and staff to provide López Belloza with academic and community support while she is abroad. School officials say they are following legal protocols but have declined to comment in detail, citing privacy and ongoing litigation.
Immigrant-rights advocates and some legal experts have pointed to her case as a vivid example of how aggressive enforcement, complex legal processes, and communication gaps can collide, particularly for immigrants who arrived as children and grew up in the United States.
A Family Under Pressure
For the López family in Austin, Sunday’s unannounced visit by ICE has compounded the emotional toll of Any’s deportation. Her father has described the experience as intimidating and unnecessary, saying agents never explained why they were there or what they were seeking.
As legal efforts continue to challenge López Belloza’s removal and explore options for her return, her family and supporters say they are bracing for further encounters with immigration authorities, even as they hope for a resolution that will allow her to resume her studies and reunite with them in the United States.
