The business administration student arrived in the U.S. from Colombia in 2022, De Bremaeker said. He said she overstayed her visa and applied for asylum based on experiencing “severe gender-based violence” in her home country, an application that is still pending. She had a valid work permit, De Bremaeker said, and had attended San Jose City College before transferring to Berkeley where she was conducting research on artificial intelligence.

On Friday night, her boyfriend Anthony said, the couple had arrived early at the airport for a weekend getaway that he hoped would help take Albornoz Hernandez’s mind off her heavy course load. They were waiting in the gate area, he said, when an ICE agent in plain clothes approached Albornoz Hernandez and asked her name, saying she looked familiar. Without identifying himself as working for ICE, the agent guessed a couple of different names, Anthony said, to which Albornoz Hernandez said no.

The third time, Anthony said, he guessed right. Once Albornoz Hernandez confirmed her name, ICE agents separated the couple, then told Albornoz Hernandez that her visa was expired and they were going to detain her, Anthony said. …

…

Albornoz Hernandez spent most of the weekend at Stockton Detention Center, De Bremaeker said, before being taken to California City, a facility northeast of Los Angeles where earlier this year, a court-ordered investigation found major flaws in the medical care provided to people detained there.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed by email that ICE agents had detained Albornoz Hernandez at SFO.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261109124735/https://www.berkeleyside.org/2026/11/03/ice-arrests-23-year-old-uc-berkeley-student-and-asylum-seeker-at-san-francisco-airport-attorney-says

  • HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Reminder: Hakeem Jefferies and Chuck Schumer REFUSE to abolish ICE.

    If you have Democratic representatives in the next congress, call them and demand that Jefferies and Schumer are not made Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, respectively.

    Sign the petitions to deny these two those roles as well:

    Petition against Jefferies

    Petition against Schumer

    Please spread the word and links far and wide.

  • Eheran@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Booking flights for recreation when you already overstay a visa WHILE THE USA ARE DOING EVERYTHING LAST YEAR is really mind blowing stupid. Like fuck ICE etc. but do you really need to directly go to them on your own? Hope she will be okay and get out of this without any permanent damage. Fucking hell how dense some people are.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.worldOP
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      36 minutes ago

      Nah, this take is bullshit, she wasn’t a fugitive, she had a pending asylum application that was going to result in a hearing she’d have to attend where ICE agents would have had the same opportunity to kidnap her they did here. Fact is that asylum application is a total response to their visa overstay claim that should have preempted any attempt by ICE to do an enforcement action off of that claim but our legal system is total bullshit that lets ICE get away with all sorts of totally unnecessary violence.

      • BlueOysterCultist@lemmy.zip
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        1 hour ago

        Yes, and? You’re not convincing unless you elaborate more when the situation is nuanced.

        There’s nuance to many situations, especially when the victim has some control over their incident. If you jump off a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean and drown, you’re gonna get some of the blame. If you’re driving 70 in a 25, lose control of your car, and wrap around a tree you’re gonna catch some blame.

        It’s stupid to give ICE a reason in America (more than just being brown). Idk why they would go on a vacation via airplane while overstaying a VISA, and then let a stranger play 20 questions with them on their identity.