Mass. college students rally for Babson freshman deported by ‘mistake’ ICE action
In the dorm room she once shared with her best friend, 19-year-old Babson College freshman Alejandra Esquivel said Any Lucia Lopez Belloza 's empty desk haunts her every day.
It's a constant reminder of her roommate's deportation while trying to surprise her family for Thanksgiving this past fall, of the life and traditions the two first-generation students built together — before federal immigration authorities tore them apart.
Alejandra Esquivel, 19, the roommate of deported Babson College student Any Lucia Lopez Belloza.(Irene Rotondo)
"It's very lonely," Esquivel, of Dallas, Texas, said on Sunday. She stood on the grassy Wellesley Town Square, surrounded by about 100 fellow Babson, Wellesley and Olin College students, faculty and community members.
Starting around 12:15 p.m. Sunday, the group marched from their respective campuses to the town center, coming together in protest of Lopez Belloza's deportation this past fall.
People at the protest for Any Lucia Lopez Belloza in Wellesley on March 29, 2026.(Irene Rotondo)
The protesters held signs that read, "Bring Any home" with her picture and "Any has a right to a seat in my classroom." They wore t-shirts created by her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, which read "Get MADD, Get Even," in red and yellow letters and showed images of fists raised, two parents hugging a child and the hashtag "#ICEout."
"Madd" stood for the newly formed nonprofit deportation defense clinic, Mass Deportation Defense , launched by Pomerleau's firm to fight high-stakes immigration and deportation cases like Lopez Belloza.
A legal fight of flights
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at Logan Airport on Nov. 20, 2025, before boarding a flight to Texas to surprise her family. She was deported to Honduras — a move the government later called a "mistake" — and a federal judge ordered her return last month.
People at the protest for Any Lucia Lopez Belloza in Wellesley on March 29, 2026.(Irene Rotondo)
Lopez Belloza did not board the flight back after receiving conflicting information from officials, Pomerleau said. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns then dismissed her lawsuit, saying the court lost jurisdiction once she declined the flight.
"The sad truth is that when Any declined the flight she also waived this court's only remaining basis for jurisdiction," he wrote. "Any civil contempt dissolved when the government complied with the facilitation order."
Todd Pomerleau, the lawyer for Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, at the protest in Wellesley on March 29, 2026.(Irene Rotondo)
As of Sunday, Lopez Belloza's case is before the First Circuit Court of Appeals, where a growing team of high-profile attorneys — including attorneys from Willkie Farr & Gallagher , the ACLU , Yale Law School's Rule of Law Clinic and the democracy watchdog Protect Democracy — is challenging the government's refusal to bring her back, attorney Todd Pomerleau told the crowd.
"We have her fight — it's in the First Circuit Court of Appeals," Pomerleau said. "We're not stopping till Any's back home. We're not stopping till she gets justice."
In her own words
In a letter read aloud to the crowd, Lopez Belloza thanked supporters and described a "roller coaster" of legal updates since she was deported.
"... I found out that my return was a trap . My happiness, that I was going to be back at Babson and my family — everything from there went downhill."
People at the protest for Any Lucia Lopez Belloza in Wellesley on March 29, 2026.(Irene Rotondo)
She said, "Every day is a fight for me. I have never struggled with mental health, but it has come to a point that I keep getting anxiety and panic attacks — at the same time that I want to give up, but I can't give up because deep down, I want to continue to fight so everything ends and I can return to Babson to pursue my education."
Lopez Belloza also pleaded, "All that I ask is for them to let us finish our studies, so we can contribute to the country that saw me and other students' journeys. To complete our dreams, so later in life we can work and give back to our communities."
People at the protest for Any Lucia Lopez Belloza in Wellesley on March 29, 2026.(Irene Rotondo)
When asked what it's been like to go through freshman year without her roommate, Esquivel could not hold back her tears.
"We were really close and we had a tradition of, you know, saying 'good morning' to each other, just asking each other how our day would go," she cried. The two still talk frequently, Esquivel said, but all they want is for Lopez Belloza to be home. "We would have dinner at the end of the day ... I did have such a great person with me."
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