Federal judge orders ICE to free UC Berkeley student detained at San Francisco airport
Photo: Encyclopædia Britannica (file photo)A federal judge on Monday ordered immigration officials to immediately release a 23-year-old UC Berkeley student detained at San Francisco International Airport last month, ruling that her detention violated her constitutional right to due process.
U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins granted a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez and issued a temporary restraining order, finding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had failed to give her a "constitutionally compliant pre-deprivation bond hearing" before taking her into custody.
Albornoz Hernandez, a Colombian asylum seeker and business administration student in UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, was detained by ICE agents on Friday, Oct. 30, as she waited with her boyfriend to board a flight to Portland, Oregon. She was held for more than a week at the California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert, the largest ICE detention center in the state, before her attorney confirmed she was released on Monday.
Coggins ruled that noncitizens who overstay a visa and are "not detained within a reasonable time" after their visas expire gain a protected liberty interest, meaning immigration enforcement agencies must first notify them before they are detained. The judge ordered Albornoz Hernandez released without additional restrictions, such as an ankle monitor, and directed that all her possessions, including her passport, be returned. Immigration officials are temporarily barred from electronically monitoring her and must give seven days' notice and hold a bond hearing before she can be re-detained.
Albornoz Hernandez entered the United States from Colombia in September 2022 on a valid visa, with permission to remain until March 6, 2023. She applied for asylum after fleeing what her attorney described as severe gender-based violence, and she holds a valid work permit. Her attorney, Nikolas De Bremaeker of the Oakland nonprofit Centro Legal de la Raza, said she has no criminal record and had complied with every requirement the government placed on her. Her lawyers filed the habeas petition in federal court on Nov. 2, arguing the arrest was unlawful because agents presented no warrant and never assessed whether she posed a flight risk.
The Department of Homeland Security has said that work authorization or a pending asylum application does "NOT confer legal status in the United States" and that she overstayed her visa. The agency said before the ruling that she would "receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings."
The ruling does not end Albornoz Hernandez's immigration case. She remains in deportation proceedings, and her asylum application will continue in immigration court, with a hearing scheduled for Nov. 17, according to her attorney.
The arrest drew a swift response from the campus and elected officials. UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons called Albornoz Hernandez "one of our outstanding students" and asked federal officials to allow her to return to her studies. Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii and U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon both called for her release, and nearly 300 students rallied on Sproul Plaza on Nov. 5 demanding her freedom. The university said the case appears to be the first ICE detention of an active UC Berkeley student since the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign began.
Sources: The Daily Californian, "Judge orders immediate release of UC Berkeley student detained by ICE" (Nov. 9, 2026, full text verified); UC Berkeley News, "Berkeley student to be released from immigration detention" (Nov. 9, 2026, full text verified); The San Francisco Focal, "Federal Judge Orders ICE to Release UC Berkeley Student Detained at SFO, Citing Due Process Violation" (Nov. 10, 2026); The San Francisco Focal, "Federal Judge Frees UC Berkeley Student from ICE Detention After SFO Arrest" (Nov. 9, 2026); Poets & Quants, "ICE Detains Berkeley Haas Undergrad At San Francisco Airport Before Weekend Trip" (Nov. 6, 2026, background: arrest details, DHS position). Event date verified: Monday, November 9, 2026 (ruling and release).
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