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A UC Berkeley student was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport Friday while waiting to board a flight to Portland for a vacation with her boyfriend.<\/p>\n
Related video above: House passes immigration enforcement bill amid partisan divide in June<\/p>\n
Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, 23, is currently being held at ICE\u2019s California City Detention Center, agency records show, while UC Berkeley students and administration mobilize to support her. Attorneys at Centro Legal de la Raza have filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention.<\/p>\n
The arrest likely represents the first ICE detention of an active UC Berkeley student since the Trump administration began its mass deportation push last year, said both Niko De Bremaeker, a managing attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza, and university spokesperson Aileen Zerrudo.<\/p>\n
The business administration student arrived in the U.S. from Colombia in 2022, De Bremaeker said. He said she overstayed her visa and applied for asylum based on experiencing \u201csevere gender-based violence\u201d in her home country, an application that is still pending. She had a valid work permit, De Bremaeker said, and had attended San Jose City College before transferring to Berkeley where she was conducting research on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
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Centro Legal de la Raza via AP<\/p>\n
Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, 23<\/p>\n
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On Friday night, her boyfriend Anthony said, the couple had arrived early at the airport for a weekend getaway that he hoped would help take Albornoz Hernandez\u2019s mind off her heavy course load. They were waiting in the gate area, he said, when an ICE agent in plain clothes approached Albornoz Hernandez and asked her name, saying she looked familiar. Without identifying himself as working for ICE, the agent guessed a couple of different names, Anthony said, to which Albornoz Hernandez said no.<\/p>\n
The third time, Anthony said, he guessed right. Once Albornoz Hernandez confirmed her name, ICE agents separated the couple, then told Albornoz Hernandez that her visa was expired and they were going to detain her, Anthony said. (Berkeleyside agreed to identify him by his first name only due to the sensitivity of his girlfriend\u2019s case.)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was scary seeing that my partner was getting ripped apart from me and there\u2019s nothing I can do about it,\u201d Anthony said.<\/p>\n
Albornoz Hernandez spent most of the weekend at Stockton Detention Center, De Bremaeker said, before being taken to California City, a facility northeast of Los Angeles where earlier this year, a court-ordered investigation found major flaws in the medical care provided to people detained there.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed by email that ICE agents had detained Albornoz Hernandez at SFO.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe entered the country on September 6, 2022, with legal permission to stay until March 6, 2023. In defiance of our nation\u2019s laws, she did not depart,\u201d wrote the spokesperson, who did not give their name. \u201cShe will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DHS spokesperson denied that ICE agents had failed to identify themselves when approaching Albornoz Hernandez, saying agents \u201cclearly identify themselves as law enforcement in accordance with agency policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why agents had detained someone with a pending asylum application and valid work permit, the spokesperson replied that \u201cwork authorization or a pending application does NOT confer legal status in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
ICE has stepped up arrests at San Francisco International Airport<\/a> and other airports<\/a> since the summer, especially targeting people who had overstayed visas in the past. Immigration agents have also held green card holders in a windowless room in the airport for days at a time<\/a>, a San Francisco Chronicle investigation found.<\/p>\n De Bremaeker said Albornoz Hernandez had no criminal record or previous arrests; a Berkeleyside search of Alameda County and federal court records did not turn up any criminal history.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is somebody who was very much known with the government, she had been complying at every step, she was doing everything she was supposed to do and obviously excelling within the community,\u201d De Bremaeker said.<\/p>\n Her arrest \u201cdemonstrates the arbitrary nature in which the government is arresting folks and how deeply it cuts into our communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n UC Berkeley chancellor asks for student to be allowed to resume studies<\/p>\n In a petition filed in U.S. District Court Monday, attorneys with Centro Legal de la Raza argued that ICE\u2019s arrest of Albornoz Hernandez violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution because officers did not present a warrant and did not interview her to determine whether she was a flight risk before taking her into custody. Berkeleyside has asked DHS for a response to those claims.<\/p>\n The petition asks the court to order Albornoz Hernandez\u2019s release and prevent the government from detaining her again unless it can prove in a court hearing that she poses a flight risk or is a danger to the community.<\/p>\n In a letter of support attached to the petition, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons called Albornoz Hernandez \u201cone of our outstanding students.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes remarkable dedication and perseverance to complete a degree at UC Berkeley,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI am deeply concerned that her current situation will unnecessarily interfere with the opportunity that she has earned, potentially impacting her academic progress.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI respectfully request that you make it possible for Paula to resume her studies with us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Student was headed to Oregon with her boyfriend for trip hiking in the outdoors<\/p>\n Anthony described his girlfriend as hyper-responsible and studious and said she had long dreamed of attending UC Berkeley. The two met in school, he said: He was working towards his high school diploma and Albornoz Hernandez toward her GED.<\/p>\n \u201cShe always talked about Berkeley and how she wanted to get in,\u201d he said. \u201cI just admired how confident she was \u2014 she knew what she wanted and was going for it.\u201d<\/p>\n They kept in touch as Albornoz Hernandez went on to San Jose City College, and started dating last summer. After transferring to UC Berkeley, he said, Albornoz Hernandez studied harder as she adapted to a more competitive environment. \u201cShe\u2019s always working, day and night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Anthony hoped the trip to Portland, which neither of them had visited before, could give her a chance to relax. They both love the outdoors, he said, and looked forward to going hiking, maybe seeing some waterfalls.<\/p>\n He has always been protective of Albornoz Hernandez\u2019s safety, he said, taking time from his own studies and job as a welder to drive her from evening church services in Hayward back to Berkeley, then trekking home to San Jose. Now, he said he is plagued by guilt that the trip he planned unexpectedly led to her arrest, but tries to stay focused on getting her released soon.<\/p>\n Albornoz Hernandez\u2019s friends at UC Berkeley have also helped out, he said, informing professors about her absence so she doesn\u2019t fall too far behind.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want her to not miss out on her schooling because this is her dream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n