A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a UC Berkeley student and asylum seeker. arrested at San Francisco International Airport on October 30.
ICE agents arrested Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, a 23-year-old business administration student from Colombia, as she waited to board a flight with her boyfriend for a vacation to Oregon.
Her lawyers argued that the detention of Albornoz Hernández, who had a pending asylum application and a pending work permit, violated the U.S. Constitution because she was deprived of her liberty without the opportunity to challenge it in court.
The Department of Homeland Security told Berkeleyside last week that Albornoz Hernandez was deportable because she overstayed her visa in 2023, that her work permit and pending asylum application do not confer legal status, and that “being in detention is a choice” because immigrants have the option of self-deportation.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Dena Coggins agreed with Albornoz Hernandez, writing that “due process prohibits the government from detaining a noncitizen unless he or she first receives adequate notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral arbiter.”
She ordered that Albornoz Hernández be released immediately and barred the agency from requiring her to wear an electronic monitor unless it proves at an upcoming court hearing that it is necessary.
ICE has placed Albornoz Hernandez in removal proceedings and her asylum case will continue to move forward in immigration court, said Lizzie Fulton, the attorney representing her in the case.
In a statement Monday, DHS called Coggins a “Biden-appointed activist judge” before saying the agency “is complying with all lawful court orders.” The department also defended its policy of detaining immigrants at airports, saying: “This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless they are outside our country to self-deport. »
UC Berkeley pushed hard to secure Albornoz Hernandez’s release in the week following his arrest, with administrators rallying support from elected officials and students protesting at Sproul Plaza.
“I feel relieved, happy, with so many positive emotions,” Liliana Iglesias, director of UC Berkeley’s Undocumented Student Program, wrote to Berkeleyside Monday morning after hearing the news.
Lawyer Niko De Bremaeker of Centro Legal de la Raza, who filed the petition challenging Albornoz Hernández’s detention, said Monday morning that he expected her to be released between a few hours and a day. She was detained at the ICE Detention Center in California City, a facility in the Southern California desert.
“Federal judges have overwhelmingly ruled these arrests illegal, and ICE continues to make them,” De Bremaeker said. “They must stop and Congress must investigate.”
While Albornoz Hernandez’s immigration case is still pending, Fulton said it will now be easier to pursue it because she will be able to meet privately with her attorneys and prepare evidence, something that is difficult to do in detention. In addition to reuniting with her family and boyfriend, she is looking forward to returning to school, Fulton said.
“One of his biggest concerns while he was in custody was missing classes,” Fulton said. “She called her graduate student and asked how she could come back immediately after her release.”
Albornoz Hernandez’s boyfriend, Anthony, said he hit the road as soon as he heard the news and was heading to Bakersfield late Monday morning, where he hoped to reunite with his girlfriend after a weeklong separation that he said “felt like months.”
“I didn’t doubt for a single second that she was going to be released,” he said. “I was ready at any moment to get in the car and leave.”
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Berkeleyside partners with nonprofit newsroom Open campus on the coverage of higher education.
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This story was originally published by Berkeley side and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
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