ICE arrests foreign college student at airport as she is heading on vacation with her boyfriend

ICE arrests foreign college student at airport as she is heading on vacation with her boyfriend The student’s attorney says that she has a pending asylum claim and a permit to work in the US - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in ICE arrested a foreign college student at a California airport as she prepared to jet off on vacation, according to reports. Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, 23, is now being held at the California City Detention Facility after being arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Friday as she waited to board a flight to Portland. Albornoz Hernandez’s attorneys at Centro Legal de la Raza told KRON4 that the University of California Berkeley student is from Colombia and has lived in the U.S. since 2022. Speaking to Berkeleyside, the student’s boyfriend, Anthony, said that the couple had been waiting in the airport gate area when an ICE agent in plain clothes approached them and said that Albornoz Hernandez looked familiar. The agent went on to guess two names before eventually saying her name on the third attempt. Albornoz Hernandez was separated from her boyfriend once her name had been confirmed and told that she was being detained as her visa had expired. “She entered the country on September 6, 2022, with legal permission to stay until March 6, 2023,” a DHS spokesperson told KRON4. “In defiance of our nation’s laws, she did not depart. She will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.” The spokesperson added: “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.” A DHS spokesperson also denied to Berkeleyside that the officer did not identify himself and said that “work authorization or a pending application does NOT confer legal status in the United States.” Attorney Niko De Bremaeker told the outlet that Albornoz Hernandez had overstayed her visa because she experienced “severe gender-based violence” in Colombia and had applied for asylum in the U.S. Her application is still pending, but De Bremaeker says that she had a valid work permit to attend San Jose City College. Albornoz Hernandez later transferred to Berkeley, where she conducted research on artificial intelligence. Following her arrest, the student is now being held at the California City Detention Facility, located in the eastern California desert. “I’ve been to many of our detention centers in the country, and that one certainly stands out as a dark page in our nation’s history,” he told SFGATE. “The treatment that people are undergoing there is inhumane. “The medical treatment has been described as being wholly insufficient by independent auditors.” A report published by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the medical site at the facility had “inadequate staffing, incomplete training, a lack of on-site management, and insufficient clinical oversight.” Anthony told The San Francisco Chronicle that Albornoz Hernandez was transported to an ICE facility in Stockton before being moved to Sacramento, back to Stockton and then over to California City. “She’s been moving around a lot,” he told the outlet. “She said she’s doing okay; she’s calm, a little more calm than we are.” A habeas corpus petition filed by Centro Legal de la Raza in the U.S. District Court on Monday alleges that the arrest of Albornoz Hernandez violates both the U.S. Constitution and federal law as the student was not presented with a warrant or found to be a flight risk. The document, which was reviewed by Berkeleyside, also demands Albornoz Hernandez’s release and says that the government should be prevented from detaining her again unless it proves that she is a danger to the community or is a flight risk in a court hearing. U.C. Berkeley Chancellor Richard Lyons told KRON4 that the university is working to support the student. “This student is a valued member of our community, and campus leadership is doing everything within our power to support them so that they may return to their life at Berkeley to continue their studies with us,” he said. The Independent has contacted the ICE and Centro Legal de la Raza for comment. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments