{"id":516788,"date":"2026-11-03T05:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/516788\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T05:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:02:17","slug":"uc-berkeley-student-held-by-ice-following-detention-at-san-francisco-international-airport-campus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/516788\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley student held by ICE following detention at San Francisco International Airport | Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

A UC Berkeley student was detained by immigration enforcement at San Francisco International Airport on Friday.<\/p>\n

The student\u2019s attorney, Niko De Bremaeker of Centro Legal de la Raza, confirmed that UC Berkeley student Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, a 23-year-old who came to the U.S. from Colombia to study business administration, was detained by immigration agents at SFO and is currently being held in a detention facility.<\/p>\n

According to detention records, she is now being held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s California City Immigration Processing Center \u2014 a facility north of Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

\"brief2_Nikolas<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Immigration enforcement agents arrest\u00a0Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez in plain clothes in an image provided by her attorney.<\/p>\n

Nikolas De Bremaeker | Courtesy<\/p>\n

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons shared in a campuswide email sent early Monday that the student was detained at the airport while they were about to travel out of state.<\/p>\n

De Bremaeker said Albornoz Hernandez was detained for an overstayed visa and was applying for asylum due to \u201cgender-based violence\u201d she experienced in Colombia. He confirmed that Albornoz Hernandez has a work permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrest is unconstitutional and unlawful,\u201d De Bremaeker said. \u201cShe has built up a life in the country. She has applied for asylum. She has a work permit. She has a right to remain in the country during these proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"brief3_Nikolas<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez pictured with her boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Nikolas De Bremaeker | Courtesy<\/p>\n

De Bremaeker said Lyons wrote a letter of support for Albornoz Hernandez saying he is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about her current situation, and that it may \u201cunnecessarily interfere\u201d with her education.<\/p>\n

In the campuswide email, Lyons confirmed that UC Berkeley has been working with the student\u2019s family and is providing legal support to ensure the student has \u201caccess to advice and representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis student is a valued member of our community,\u201d Lyons wrote. \u201cAnd campus leadership is doing everything within our power to support them so that they may return to their life at Berkeley to continue their studies with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Bremaeker said Albornoz Hernandez is \u201cstruggling\u201d from the conditions in custody, and is \u201cextremely distressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

This arrest comes after the onset<\/a> of \u201cOperation Safe California,\u201d a 45-day immigration enforcement operation throughout California, first reported by the Washington Examiner on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n

This is not the first immigration enforcement arrest that has taken place at SFO. Multiple politicians, including Sen. Alex Padilla, have visited the \u201cin-transit lounge\u201d at the airport, which has been described as a windowless room in the airport\u2019s international terminal that is used to hold detainees.<\/p>\n

ICE did not respond to request for comment as of press time.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story; check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A UC Berkeley student was detained by immigration enforcement at San Francisco International Airport on Friday. The student\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[6361,79988,166782,16581,51363,8179,137,198319,191352,198318,101,103,603,102,104,106,105,575,149,198320],"class_list":["post-516788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-alex-padilla","tag-berkeleyside","tag-california-city-immigration-processing-center","tag-centro-legal-de-la-raza","tag-chancellor-rich-lyons","tag-colombia","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-niko-de-bremaeker","tag-operation-safe-california","tag-paula-valentina-albornoz-hernandez","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-international-airport","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-washington-examiner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}