A federal judge in California has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, a 23-year-old UC Berkeley student and asylum seeker. The court order follows her detention at San Francisco International Airport on October 30, where she was waiting to board a flight with her boyfriend for a vacation in Oregon.
Albornoz Hernandez, a business administration student from Colombia, had a pending asylum case and a current work permit at the time of her arrest. Her legal team argued that her detention violated the U.S. Constitution because she was deprived of her liberty without a prior opportunity to challenge the detention in court.
U.S. District Court Judge Dena Coggins ruled in favor of the student on Monday. In her written decision, Coggins stated that due process requires the government to provide adequate notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral arbiter before detaining a noncitizen. The judge ordered the student's immediate release and prohibited the agency from requiring her to wear an electronic monitor unless its necessity is proven in a future hearing.
The Department of Homeland Security had previously told Berkeleyside that Albornoz Hernandez was deportable due to a visa overstay in 2023. The department maintained that her work authorization and pending asylum application did not confer legal status and described detention as a choice because immigrants have the opportunity to self-deport.
In a statement released Monday, the Department of Homeland Security referred to Coggins as a Biden-appointed activist judge. However, the agency confirmed that it complies with all lawful court orders. The department also defended its policy of detaining immigrants at airports, noting that the administration is working to ensure that individuals in the country illegally can no longer fly unless it is to leave the country to self-deport.
UC Berkeley launched a significant campaign to secure the student's release during the week she was detained. University administrators rallied support from elected officials, while students organized demonstrations on Sproul Plaza. Liliana Iglesias, the director of the university's Undocumented Students Program, expressed relief and happiness upon hearing the news of the court ruling.
Niko De Bremaeker, an attorney with Centro Legal de la Raza who filed the petition challenging the detention, expected the release to occur within a few hours or a day. Albornoz Hernandez had been held at the ICE California City detention center in the Southern California desert. De Bremaeker noted that federal judges have frequently found such arrests unlawful and called for ICE to stop the practice and for Congress to investigate.
Lizzie Fulton, the attorney representing Albornoz Hernandez in her immigration case, explained that the student's deportation proceedings and asylum case will continue through immigration court. Fulton said the release would make it easier to pursue the case because the student can now meet privately with her lawyers and prepare evidence, which is difficult while detained.
Albornoz Hernandez is eager to return to her academic work after missing classes during her detention. She contacted her graduate student instructor to ask how she can resume her studies immediately. Her boyfriend, Anthony, began driving to Bakersfield late Monday morning to reunite with her, describing the weeklong separation as feeling like months.
Anthony expressed confidence in the court's decision, stating that he was ready to travel at any time. The couple had been separated since her arrest at the airport, and they now look forward to reuniting after the judge's order for her immediate release.
