UC Berkeley Student Seeking Asylum Detained by ICE at SFO

A 23-year-old UC Berkeley student who fled gender-based violence in Colombia is being held in ICE detention after agents arrested her at SFO Friday.

Paula Albornoz Hernandez was on her way to Portland with her boyfriend Friday when she was taken into ICE custody while waiting to board a flight at San Francisco International Airport, as the Chronicle reports. Agents reportedly told the 23-year-old UC Berkeley student she was being detained for overstaying her visa.

Albornoz Hernandez's boyfriend, Anthony, who contacted the Alameda County Rapid Response Network for assistance, said he wasn't able to speak with her until midday Saturday, after she had already been transferred to a detention facility in Stockton. ICE reportedly moved Albornoz Hernandez between facilities in Stockton and Sacramento over the next several days before transferring her to California City, in Kern County.

Her attorney Nikolas De Bremaeker, a managing attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, filed a habeas corpus petition late Monday challenging the detention and arguing that she is being held unlawfully.

De Bremaeker told the Chronicle that Albornoz Hernandez, who is seeking asylum from gender-based violence in Colombia, had complied with immigration requirements and had previously interacted with federal officials without being detained.

"She had all these points of contact with the government and the government didn’t detain her (before)," he said, speaking to the Chronicle. "She’s an important member of the community and her future should be protected."

Back in Berkeley, university officials and Hernandez's friends and family began working to secure her release. The Daily Californian reports that UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons sent a campuswide email Monday confirming that the university was coordinating with her family and providing legal support to help her obtain advice and representation.

"This student is a valued member of our community," Lyons wrote, adding that campus leadership was doing everything possible to help her return to Berkeley and continue her studies.

De Bremaeker said Lyons also wrote a letter of support expressing that he was "deeply concerned" about Hernandez's detention and the possibility that it could "unnecessarily interfere" with her education. The attorney told the Daily Cal that Albornoz Hernandez was struggling with the conditions of her confinement and was extremely distressed.

Her arrest reportedly coincides with the Trump administration's 45-day immigration enforcement operation, dubbed Operation Safe California.

As SFist has reported previously, several immigrants have been arrested and detained at SFO during the past year, including over two dozen who were unlawfully held at the airport for more than 72 hours.

The Bay Area has also been experiencing a surge in ICE arrests and sightings at people's homes and workplaces in recent weeks, possibly to meet a reported nationwide quota of 3,000 arrests per day.

The Trump administration has also been carrying out "Operation Protect the Vote," targeting green card holders and other immigrants who have illegally cast ballots in recent elections, including 28 individuals in California.

As the Chronicle reported in June, De Bremaeker, who’s a Belgian national, was himself detained for 45 minutes at SFO while waiting to go through security. He was reportedly told he was on a watch list, possibly because of his involvement in a high-profile lawsuit resulting in a first-in-the-nation federal court ruling that barred ICE from re-arresting immigrants at their immigration court hearings without legal justification.

Per the Chronicle, attorney Andrew Fels, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request on De Bremaeker's behalf seeking information about the alleged watch list, said the incident appeared to be part of a large-scale effort to target immigration attorneys, pointing to a March 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump.

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