Overview
- A federal judge ordered Paula Albornoz Hernandez released from ICE custody on Monday after more than a week in detention and directed that her passport and other possessions be returned.
- She was arrested by plain‑clothes ICE agents at a gate at San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 30 while preparing to fly to Portland with her boyfriend.
- Her lawyers argued the gate arrest denied her due process by taking her into custody without adequate notice or a chance to challenge it in court, a central point in the habeas petition that led to the ruling.
- She had been transferred to the remote California City Detention Facility, which reporting and audits have cited for severe medical staffing shortages and poor conditions that advocates say make transfers there especially fraught.
- The order ends her immediate detention but does not resolve her underlying immigration case or broader questions about ICE airport arrests, which lawyers and civil‑rights groups are increasingly challenging in federal court.