Nineteen-year-old Any Lucía López Belloza was detained and deported, despite a lack of removal order, when attempting to head home from Babson College in Boston to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving. “This is the first arrest of its kind I’ve seen,” says her attorney, Todd C. Pomerleau, who says the student has been the victim of “character assassination.” After López Belloza “was taken down near the border on a bus, had shackles around her ankles, chain around her waist, shackles around her wrist,” her family attempted to speak out to the press about the rights violations she suffered. They are now being harassed by law enforcement, as well.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.