ICE Arrests UC Berkeley Student At San Francisco International Airport: Report

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A 23-year-old UC Berkeley student was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport last week, according to her sister and a report from Berkeleyside.

Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernández, a student at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, was arrested Friday and has been held in ICE detention ever since, according to a statement posted online by her sister, Nicole Albornoz.

Albornoz has no criminal record and an active asylum case. It's unclear why she was detained at the airport. ICE did not immediately respond to questions from Patch.

"She has done nothing but contribute to this country and to her education," Albornoz Hernández's sister said in the post, asking her community to speak up for her. "I’m sharing this because she is not a case number. She is my sister. She is a student, a classmate, a friend, and someone who chose to build her future here."

Albornoz Hernández is likely the first active UC Berkeley student to be held in ICE detention since the Trump administration's mass deportation push started last year, according to a Berkeleyside report.

The 23-year-old arrived in the U.S. from Colombia in 2022, according to the report. She applied for asylum after overstaying her visa, saying she experienced "severe gender-based violence" in Colombia, according to the report.

For now, her attorney is planning to file a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention, according to the report.

"This is somebody who was very much known with the government, she had been complying at every step, she was doing everything she was supposed to do and obviously excelling within the community," Albornoz Hernández's attorney told Berkeleyside.

Read more from Berkeleyside.