In a potentially dramatic development in the case of a Babson College freshman who was abruptly deported over Thanksgiving, federal authorities on Tuesday acknowledged they were wrong to expel her in violation of a court order.

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“I want to sincerely apologize,” Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter said in Boston federal court. “The government regrets that violation and acknowledges that violation.”

He said an ICE agent misread the court order and assumed it no longer applied because she was out of Massachusetts by then. Therefore, Sauter said, he didn’t flag it in ICE’s internal systems the way he should have.

“He has been counseled about that mistake,” Sauter said.

The contrition came amid one of the most heated times in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge, as the federal government is sending more agents into cities, including Minneapolis, where an agent shot a US citizen to death last week.

Stearns thanked the prosecutor for being “forthright,” and said he would rule later on whether they have to return the young woman or grant her a visa.

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