A federal judge on Monday, Nov. 9, ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release UC Berkeley student Paula Albornoz Hernandez, who was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 30, KQED reported.
Albornoz Hernandez, 23, is a business administration major and a Colombian asylum seeker. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins found that ICE failed to provide a constitutionally required hearing before detaining her and ordered her released immediately, without an ankle monitor, and her belongings, including her passport, returned, KQED reported. Her attorney, Nikolas De Bremaeker, said she would be released later Monday from the California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert and that her boyfriend was on the way to pick her up.
Chancellor Richard K. Lyons told the campus Monday that the university was "relieved and overjoyed" by the order and looked forward to welcoming her back. Her asylum case remains pending. Related: the Oct. 30 arrest and her sister’s account.