Judge Orders ICE to Release UC Berkeley Student After Weeklong Detention

U.S. District Court Judge Dena Coggins ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement on November 9, 2026, to immediately release Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, the UC Berkeley student held in ICE custody after an airport arrest.

The order bars electronic monitoring unless the agency proves at a future court hearing that it is necessary. It also directs ICE to return her possessions, including her passport.

Her attorneys said detention without a chance to contest it in court violated the Constitution. Coggins wrote that “due process forbids the government from detaining the noncitizen unless they are first provided with adequate notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral arbiter.”

Her airport arrest set up a dispute over detention and immigration status

ICE arrested Albornoz Hernandez on October 30, 2026, at San Francisco International Airport as she prepared to fly to Oregon with her boyfriend. She is a 23-year-old business administration student from Colombia. Her asylum application was pending, and she had a current work permit.

Her attorney Nikolas De Bremaeker, of Centro Legal de la Raza, said she had left Colombia after gender-based violence, entered the United States in 2022 and sought asylum. He said she had complied with her paperwork and hearings before the arrest.

The Department of Homeland Security contended that she was deportable because she overstayed a visa in 2023. DHS also said her work authorization and pending asylum application did not give her legal status, and that detention is “a choice” because immigrants have the opportunity to self-deport. Those were the department’s claims, not findings that Coggins made in the detention ruling.

The ruling’s stated basis was the lack of adequate notice and a prior hearing. It does not resolve the merits of her asylum application or end her immigration proceedings. The terms described for the order do not establish whether Coggins decided the visa-overstay allegation.

The order required release, but her lawyer described it as still pending

Albornoz Hernandez was held at the California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert. Her attorney confirmed she would be released from the facility later on Monday, and her boyfriend was already on his way to pick her up.

Her boyfriend, Anthony, was driving toward Bakersfield late Monday morning to meet her. He said he had started the trip after hearing of the order and described their separation as having “felt like months.”

DHS criticized Coggins, calling her “a Biden-appointed activist judge,” then said the agency “complies with all lawful court orders.” The department also defended detaining immigrants at airports, saying: “This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”

De Bremaeker said the facility had poor living conditions and “crisis-level” medical staffing shortages, and raised concerns about her health after detention. “That detention center needs to be closed,” he said.

Students and campus leaders rallied around her case

Nearly 300 students gathered at Sproul Plaza on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, calling for her release. UC Berkeley said approximately 30 letters of support came from community leaders, including U.S. Reps. Lateefah Simon and Sam Liccardo, state Sen. Jesse Arreguín, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii.

De Bremaeker said the support showed Albornoz Hernandez had strong ties to the community. Liliana Iglesias, director of the university’s Undocumented Students Program, said she felt “relieved, happy, so many positive emotions” after learning of the order. U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon said: “All students deserve safety, care, and the ability to learn without fear of violence.”

Chancellor Rich Lyons said in a campuswide message on November 9: “This is a moment to remember what's possible when our community comes together to support one of our own.” The message, also signed by Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity & Inclusion Fabrizio Mejia, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Government and Community Relations Gina Daly, and Iglesias, described the campus as “relieved and overjoyed.”

Her asylum and deportation cases remain before immigration court

The order did not conclude her immigration case; her deportation proceedings and asylum case continue. ICE had placed her in deportation proceedings, while her asylum case continues in immigration court, said Lizzie Fulton, the attorney representing her in that case.

Fulton said release will let Albornoz Hernandez meet privately with her lawyers and prepare evidence, tasks that are difficult while someone is detained. She also wants to return to classes. While detained, Fulton said, she called her graduate student instructor to ask how she could catch up after her release.