The San Francisco Unified School District fanned a wave of panic on Thursday after sending emails to public-school families, notifying them that a middle-school student claimed to have been approached by an “immigration law enforcement officer” on a No. 29 bus in Visitacion Valley, an immigrant-heavy part of the city.
The district emailed parents and teachers, informing them that the Visitacion Valley Middle School student claimed an agent “approached” them and “asked for identification and where they were from.”
More elaborate online rumors soon swirled regarding the No. 29 bus, including claims that teams of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel boarded, with dogs in tow, and detained people.
ICE regional spokesperson Alethea Smock today confirmed to Mission Local that “This was not an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement encounter.”
Also, SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su today Mission Local today that Police Chief Bill Scott “was able to talk to an official at Homeland Security, and confirmed that there were no ICE operations on the 29 bus yesterday.” It remains unclear what, if anything, happened on the bus yesterday morning.
Mission Local also learned that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency scrutinized video footage from the bus line, and has not yet unearthed anything resembling immigration enforcement. While an individual claiming to be an ICE agent approaching a young person might be difficult to spot on video, groups of canine officers detaining people would not be.
Further, the incident had not been verified by San Francisco’s Rapid Response Network, the coalition of immigration groups that offer rapid assistance in the event of immigration enforcement, or any other group. It consisted solely of the claim of the student.
Still, district officials emailed parents and teachers of several campuses in the area surrounding the middle school, south of McLaren Park, informing them of the student’s sighting. More parents received emails from district officials today that acknowledged the ICE activity, as if it were a fait accompli.
“After conducting a thorough multiagency review, we are confident and relieved that there was no federal immigration enforcement action on a Muni bus yesterday,” said mayoral spokesperson Charles Kretchmer Lutvak. “At the same time, the fear in our community is real, and that fear makes all of San Francisco less safe.”
People knowledgeable in responding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity said that the district’s communiques may have been well-intentioned, but did more harm than good: Posts proliferated on Instagram, some with hundreds of shares and likes, warning of a possible immigration crackdown in San Francisco.
Another post on the Chinese app RedNote relayed the same. Teachers shared the email with one another, and a Facebook group for parents lit up at the news. Mission Local received several tips from readers, claiming the alleged sighting as fact.
“It is pretty hard for the average community member to distinguish: Is it ICE? Is it the police? Is it a different kind of federal police?” said Finn Palamaro with the Rapid Response Network, who said the “best thing” anyone can do in this situation is call the hotline and wait for verification before passing rumors along. While the school did do so, officials concurrently decided to share the information.
“Unfortunately, it seems like some well-meaning people in the school started circling the information before it was verified,” Palamaro said. The Rapid Response Network was in the process of meeting with the student and seeking footage from Muni.
Rumors induce anxiety for immigrant families, and create a “boy who cried wolf” situation, clogging up hotlines and exhausting the community’s alertness in the event of an actual ICE operation.
SFUSD, in a statement, said it strives “to only communicate accurate information and not contribute to the anxieties that our communities may be experiencing.”
“However, given that unverified information began circulating quickly among school communities yesterday, we took the opportunity to share what we knew at the time so that schools had consistent information,” the statement continued.
Palamaro said the enforcement would be inconsistent with ICE’s usual practice; agents usually focus on “targeted actions” against named individuals. They do not usually board buses, asking riders for IDs.
But the spread of unverified rumours, Palamaro said, only plays into ICE’s hands.
“Fear is one of the biggest tactics they use.”
Additional reporting by Joe Eskenazi and Emmanuel Fonseca.
I can’t overstate how incompetent this was by sfusd. Even by their low level of competence, this is impressive.
Perhaps if sfusd actually focused on providing high quality education, not social activism, we would see less of this type of incompetence.
But on the positive side, this can be incorporated into a class on social media and media awareness, as an example of what stupid people do.
Manifestly irresponsible behavior on the part of SFUSD.
Is it though? Since we all know that there will be increased ICE activity in the city, it does no harm to raise awareness of the risk. Being complacent and in denial of the new reality isn’t going to help anyone.
It is possible to oppose Trump yet support deporting illegal immigrants.
The young man is not helping the situation.
Why are people afraid of ICE doing their jobs? I guess people just don’t like government workers in general.
Would be great if this could be verified. I’ve heard reports from people I work with that ICE has been on buses, though I assured them that publicly detaining folks this way would be more difficult than work and residential raids. Hopefully folks know not to identify themselves or even speak. Lots of hard workers out there holding up our economy and society.
Law enforcement agencies and officers can legally lie in pursuit of their mandate, so the fact that ICE denies this operation may not mean much. I suspect that they are already covertly observing and operating in SF, in preparation for the sweeps that have already started in other cities.
Neither SFUSD, Mission Local nor anyone else knows for sure. It’s all speculation until the raids start.
Truly unfortunate that it looks like the incident did not happen. These are frightening times for sure. Cooler heads will prevail. Let’s use this as a teaching moment: what should every day San Franciscans and allies who are US citizens do if and when they are in a public setting (on a bus, on the sidewalk, out and about) and ICE appears? Should we film? What legal grounds and protections do we have to intervene and/or bear witness? Are there workshops for us to learn about effective ways to respond?
*This* is how you shut down misinformation and rumors. Impressively thorough analysis of multiple primary sources. Well done, Joe, Joe and Emmanuel.
Hey y’all, it appears ICE is active in San Francisco:
https://www.ktvu.com/news/ice-agents-downtown-san-francisco-blocked-building-security
So, what is YOUR plan if something like this happens? Will you stand to defend your fellow San Franciscan, regardless of their immigration status?
So please tell me why our Federal Government shouldn’t enforce the immigration laws that have been on the books for decades?…….We welcome immigrants who come here legally!
Here’s an old ACLU video wherein ICE agents are successfully thwarted. It can be done:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=geeo63reOQw