A 23-year-old UC Berkeley business administration student and asylum seeker was detained by federal immigration agents at San Francisco International Airport while waiting to board a flight to Portland with her boyfriend, according to her attorney. Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, who arrived in the United States from Colombia in 2022, is now held at ICE's California City Detention Center, a facility northeast of Los Angeles that a court-ordered investigation found earlier this year was riddled with medical care failures.
According to Berkeleyside, attorney Niko De Bremaeker of Centro Legal de la Raza says plainclothes ICE agents approached Albornoz Hernandez on Oct. 30 and asked her name before taking her into custody. De Bremaeker says the agents never identified themselves as ICE, immigration authorities or police. Per her attorney, Albornoz Hernandez has a pending asylum application based on severe gender-based violence she experienced in Colombia, had overstayed her visa, and held a valid work permit at the time of her arrest.
De Bremaeker told Berkeleyside that Albornoz Hernandez has no criminal record or previous arrests, and the outlet's own search of Alameda County and federal court records turned up no criminal history. He said she “was known to the government, had complied at every step and excelled in her community,” and that her arrest “demonstrates arbitrary government arrests that deeply affect communities.”
From San Jose City College to UC Berkeley Research
Albornoz Hernandez transferred to UC Berkeley after attending San Jose City College, where she went on to conduct research on artificial intelligence. UC Berkeley spokesperson Aileen Zerrudo said the arrest likely represents the first ICE detention of an active UC Berkeley student since the Trump administration began its mass deportation push, per Berkeleyside's reporting.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons wrote a letter of support for Albornoz Hernandez addressed to immigration officials, according to the outlet. Lyons said her detention could unnecessarily interfere with the academic opportunity she earned and affect her progress, and he requested that immigration officials make it possible for her to resume her studies at the university. An ICE spokesperson responded to Berkeleyside's emailed inquiry by requesting more details but did not immediately answer questions about the arrest itself.
Transferred to a Facility Under Court Scrutiny
Per her attorney, Albornoz Hernandez spent the weekend at the Stockton Detention Center before being transferred to California City. The ACLU has called California City California's largest immigration detention center, and it has drawn sustained legal scrutiny this year. A court-appointed monitor found in July that the facility lacked a reliable system to consistently provide adequate health care, according to the Los Angeles Times. That finding followed interviews with more than a dozen staff members and 40 patients, a three-day site inspection, and a review of 141 patient medical records conducted by a monitor appointed by U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney to ensure compliance with her February order requiring constitutionally adequate health care.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has since granted a preliminary injunction requiring improvements at the facility, including access to emergency services, specialists and prescribed medications, according to the ACLU. The order also requires ICE to provide attorney access, including contact visits, along with appropriate clothing, blankets, and continued access for the court-appointed monitor to verify compliance.
Habeas Petition Planned as Airport Arrests Draw Scrutiny
De Bremaeker planned to file a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention by the end of Sunday, per the article. Her case follows a string of recent airport detentions that have drawn attention from Bay Area officials and immigration attorneys. Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Gorb was arrested by immigration agents at the same airport and detained at the California City Immigration Processing Center for seven weeks before being released on an $8,000 bond paid from a fundraiser her friends launched, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The Chronicle has also reported that ICE's airport arrest strategy has targeted travelers with visa overstays, including some with pending asylum cases and no criminal record.
Bay Area officials have separately raised privacy concerns about how ICE obtains travelers' flight information. Rep. John Garamendi questioned how ICE knew a traveler's flight schedule in a case where, KQED reported, TSA had informed ICE that Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her 9-year-old daughter were on a Sunday flight manifest from San Francisco to Miami. Similar questions surfaced in Anchorage, where the Anchorage Daily News reported that TSA provides ICE agents passenger lists including people who overstay their visas, and that an 18-year-old University of Alaska Fairbanks student was arrested at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in September before being released after posting bond.
The Anchorage Daily News also cited Cato Institute data showing the number of non-criminals entering ICE custody nationally rose from roughly 16 a day in December 2024 to 658 a day in July 2026. Enforcement activity has extended beyond airports as well: CalMatters has reported that California community colleges have seen multiple recent incidents involving immigration agents on or near campuses, including one in which the San Diego Community College District said agents arrested a student on a public street cutting through its urban campus and chased another student up the steps of a building.
Berkeleyside's report on Albornoz Hernandez's case was authored by Felicia Mello, with additional reporting contributed by Alex N. Gecan. Berkeleyside partners with Open Campus on its higher education coverage.
