US Apologizes After Mistakenly Deporting Babson Student (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Breaking news, mistake. The Trump administration issuing a rare apology tonight, admitting that it made a mistake, that's their word, in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student. That student is Ani Lucia Lopez-Beloza. She's 19 years old. She's a freshman at Babson College near Boston. Now, she was detained at the airport. While she was there, she was going to fly home to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving. Ani Lucia Lopez-Beloza grew up in Texas after coming to the United States as a child seeking asylum. Now, tonight, a federal judge is weighing emergency action and whether Ani will be allowed to return to the United States. Ani Lucia Lopez-Beloza is out front now in her first live television interview since the Trump administration admitted it mistakenly deported her. Her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, is also with us. And I appreciate both of you very much. Ani, the government admitted in court that it made a mistake. The Trump administration is not going to let Ani Lucia Lopez-Beloza go. The Trump administration is not going to let Ani Lucia Lopez-Beloza go. Those are their words. I mean, here you are months after this with what you've been going through.

[00:01:03] Speaker 2: What's your reaction to that stunning admission? I was already kind of shocked because of everything that happened. But I'm also with hearing that they have apologized to the mistake that they've made. I accept their apologies and I hope that based on this apology, I'm able to return back to my studies and also to my family. I also hope that based on this apology, I'm able to return back to my studies and also to my family. I also hope that based on this apology, I'm able to return back to my studies and also to my family.

[00:01:26] Speaker 1: Well, I think that's obviously incredibly gracious of you. You accept their apology and you just want to come home. I mean, you're not home right now. You're not in the United States. I know you can't disclose your current location, but you're not home. I mean, do you have any idea of when you can return?

[00:01:44] Speaker 2: I don't have no idea, but I do hope to return as early as possible for me to start my semester and also like finish my semester. semester, my spring semester at Babson.

[00:01:56] Speaker 1: Right. Well, obviously, because you you were going home for Thanksgiving and then you didn't come back. I mean, Todd, the deportation here happened right when Ani goes to the airport to go see her family at Thanksgiving and then then they take her. Her deportation happened in spite of a judge's order. I think a lot of people just want to understand how does a deportation happen when it's in direct violation of a court order?

[00:02:28] Speaker 3: Aaron, thank you for having us on again tonight to talk about this tragedy. And you know, for months we were left thinking that this was purposeful conduct by the Trump administration. And we went to court on Tuesday and the government's attorney apologized on behalf of the United States, on behalf of the Trump administration. We have to accept it for what it is. It's a it's a rare apology. And they can only make this right. An apology without a remedy is a hollow apology, in my view. And what happened here is she was traveling with her Honduran passport. That was her real ID trying to board a plane. And it was a ruse. TSA and immigration enforcement were working in tandem, told her her boarding pass didn't work. She was abruptly detained, taken to an ICE facility, deprived of phone calls for several days. She didn't know she had a lawyer till Monday. We'd sued Friday. I didn't know where she was because she was. Disappeared from the database that would reflect that she was in the custody of ICE. We later learned in talking to Ani that she was a few miles down the road at a military base, held there for several hours when we were trying to find her and contact her and stop this from happening. And what has apparently happened is an ICE officer received an email with a court order attached and thought that it didn't apply because the plane had already left Massachusetts. But she was flown to Texas. That's still the United States. And the next day she was deported over a weekend before we even had a court hearing. The next court hearing we've had, we'll accept the olive branch. We'll accept the apology. And I'd like to work with the Trump administration here. They like to make deals. They like to make things happen. Let's make it happen. Let's bring her back home. She goes to Babson College, one of the best colleges in the world to study business. Just like the president. He's a business owner. She wants to be a business owner. She wants to help her father. He's a tailor. They escaped persecution. These are great people, hardworking people. They pay their taxes. They have children that are citizens. Ani's the oldest. And Ani, I know you're a business owner. You're a business owner. You're a business owner.

[00:04:17] Speaker 1: You're a business owner. You're a really, really downtown. I know your dad said immigration officials have showed up at one point at your home in Austin. One of the agents reportedly rushed at your father, according to the New York Times. Gosh. There's so much I want to ask you. Can I just ask you about what happened then and how that even feels, that that happened to others in your family while you're going through this?

[00:04:48] Speaker 2: knowing that I got deported, being deported, and then hearing that my parents are also going through being chased basically by ICE, it was just a lot to take in. It's been so hard for us and my family. We have been trying our best to work this whole situation out as much as we can, but it's been so difficult.

[00:05:11] Speaker 1: Ani, you're a college student, and you go to the airport to surprise your family. And then all of this happens. You get taken into custody. You can't make phone calls for days. You don't know where they're taking you. Can I just ask you what that was like?

[00:05:32] Speaker 2: It was traumatizing. I have never, never in my life experienced this at all. And I was so worried because I had a lot of assignments that I had to turn in, and I wanted to call at least somebody. Somebody in my family to be able, like, let the school know what's going on. But it was so difficult to try to work with them because I tried to ask for phone calls, and they were like, you have to wait and wait and wait until I was given one. But it was so difficult just because being a college student, I mean, we already go through a lot of stress with, like, finals. And it was literally final seasons coming up. So it was so, so hard for me. I had more stress put into my shoulders.

[00:06:16] Speaker 1: I truly can't even imagine it. It's so glad to get a chance to talk to you. And I know Todd has been out making sure everyone knows about this story. And let's hope that the outcome here is going to be that you're coming home very soon with this apology. Thank you both so very much.

[00:06:32] Speaker 3: Thank you very much for having us. Thank you for having us. We look forward to the administration getting us right because it's in their hands now, and we expect them to bring her back home. Yeah.