Federal judge orders release of UC Berkeley student held by ICE
Dena Coggins ruled the detention violated due process because the 23-year-old student was not given a prior hearing.
By Aiko Petrov ·
Federal Judge Dena Coggins ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernández immediately. The 23-year-old UC Berkeley business administration student and Colombian national had been held since October 30. Agents arrested her at San Francisco International Airport while she waited to board a flight to Oregon with her boyfriend.
Coggins issued the ruling on Monday from the U.S. District Court. She wrote that due process forbids the government from detaining a non-citizen without adequate notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral arbitrator. The judge also barred the agency from requiring Albornoz Hernández to wear an electronic monitor unless ICE proves at a future hearing that it is necessary.
Albornoz Hernández was detained while her asylum case remained pending. She also held a valid work permit. Her legal team argued that holding her without a chance to challenge the detention in court violated the U.S. Constitution.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the arrest last week. The agency told Berkeleyside that Albornoz Hernández was deportable because she stayed in the country longer than her 2023 visa allowed. DHS claimed that being detained was a choice because immigrants can opt for voluntary deportation. In a statement Monday, the department called Coggins an activist judge appointed by Biden. It added that the agency complies with all lawful court orders and that the administration is working to stop foreign nationals in the country illegally from flying unless they are leaving voluntarily.
Albornoz Hernández has been held at the ICE detention center in California City, located in the Southern California desert. Her attorney, Lizzie Fulton, said the deportation process has begun but the asylum case will continue in immigration court. Fulton noted that release will make it easier to prepare evidence and meet with lawyers privately.
Anthony, Albornoz Hernández’s boyfriend, said he drove to Bakersfield Monday morning to meet her after a week of separation. He said the time apart felt like months. He added that he was ready to leave at any moment once he heard the news.
Niko De Bremaeker, an attorney with the Center for Law and Race who filed the petition to challenge the detention, said federal judges have overwhelmingly declared these arrests illegal. He stated that ICE continues to make them and that Congress must investigate. UC Berkeley administrators gathered support from elected officials and students demonstrated in Sproul Plaza during the week following the arrest. Liliana Iglesias, director of the university’s program for undocumented students, wrote that she felt relieved and happy upon hearing the ruling.
