A UC Berkeley student was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport on Friday, Oct. 30, while waiting to board a flight to Portland, her attorney told Berkeleyside.
Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, 23, is being held at ICE's California City facility, according to agency detention records cited by both Berkeleyside and The Daily Californian. Her attorney, Niko De Bremaeker of Centro Legal de la Raza, told Berkeleyside he planned to file a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention.
Her case
De Bremaeker said the business administration student came to the U.S. from Colombia in 2022. He said she overstayed her visa and applied for asylum based on gender-based violence she experienced in Colombia, and that the application is still pending. She has a valid work permit, he said. She attended San Jose City College before transferring to Berkeley.
According to De Bremaeker, plainclothes agents approached her at the gate and asked her name without identifying themselves. She spent the weekend at a detention center in Stockton before being moved to California City, he told Berkeleyside. He said she has no criminal record, and Berkeleyside's search of Alameda County and federal court records found no criminal history.
"The arrest is unconstitutional and unlawful," De Bremaeker told The Daily Californian.
Campus response
Chancellor Rich Lyons wrote a letter of support to immigration officials calling Albornoz Hernandez "one of our outstanding students." In a campuswide email, he said UC Berkeley is working with her family and providing legal support. Berkeleyside reported that both De Bremaeker and university spokesperson Aileen Zerrudo said this is likely the first ICE detention of an active UC Berkeley student since the current deportation push began.
As of the latest reports, DHS and ICE had not answered questions about the arrest. Follow ongoing Bay Area enforcement activity on our ICE tracker.