When Reem Assil, who owns the eponymous Reem’s Bakery at Mission and 26th streets, went into the food business, part of her goal was creating a sanctuary, a place that felt like home for people who had to leave theirs.
It was a poignant message from Assil, who is Palestinian and Syrian, given what was happening outside of San Francisco City Hall on Monday evening, when she spoke to a crowd of a few hundred as part of an event honoring immigrants’ contributions to the city.
“Right now, in a time when our communities are being attacked, sanctuary spaces … are more important than ever,” Assil said. She was referencing her bakery, but San Francisco is a sanctuary city, too.
Recently, that does not seem to have kept U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining immigrants at routine check-ins and court hearings. ICE arrested at least 20 people in San Francisco last week, including a toddler, and on Tuesday morning took at least two others into waiting minivans as protesters attempted to stop them.
Assil was one of eight people or groups presented with an immigrant leadership award on Monday at the eighth annual awards show by San Francisco’s Immigrant Rights Commission.
As Assil spoke, demonstrators wrapped up a rally on City Hall’s front steps, in opposition to President Donald Trump’s travel ban of citizens from mostly African and Middle Eastern countries. A few miles away, at 24th and Mission streets, a protest was gearing up.
As many as 2,000 anti-ICE demonstrators marched down Mission and Valencia streets Monday evening, chanting “Move, ICE, get out the Bay!”
The mood Monday evening inside City Hall was a source of calm among the chaos, attendees said. A drummer from Port-au-Prince, in Haiti, kicked off the performances. A series of photos and works of art called “Mass Sanctuaries,” curated by the nonprofit Acción Latina, which runs cultural programming, was on display. There was food, drinks and (rowdier) music to close off the night.
“I needed this event,” said Mouneissa Wangara, who works for an organization that is part of the Language Access Network, which was among the honorees. Wangara said she immigrated to the United States from Mali.
The ceremony was planned before the recent ICE arrests, to coincide with the start of Immigrant Heritage Month in San Francisco, which is June. But recent news colored the evening.
“It’s a hard and heavy time to be celebrated,” said one honoree, drag queen Juanita MORE!
Among the groups recognized was the San Francisco Rapid Response Network, which is a hotline that connects immigrants to legal support, including people who are affected by the recent ICE arrests.
“What’s happening is wrong, and it’s meant to intimidate and isolate, but we refuse to be silent,” said Thais Siqueira, a program manager for the network.
One honoree, Valeria Suarez, asked attendees to head over to the protest at 24th and Mission streets immediately after the evening’s festivities. “We need to be out on the streets,” she said.
Already there, covering the protests, were most of the staff of El Tecolote, a bilingual news outlet. The staff was honored as a grassroots leader.
“At a time when we are seeing leaders at all levels backpedaling on their support of immigrant communities, I’m proud to say that El Tecolote is standing firm in our commitment of defending these communities and always will,” said Imelda Carrasco, the executive director of Acción Latina, who accepted the award on behalf of the news outlet. (Acción Latina is also the publisher of El Tecolote).
San Francisco’s elected officials turned out, too, including several members of the Board of Supervisors, City Attorney David Chiu and Mayor Daniel Lurie. Chiu and Lurie both spoke, and reiterated their support for San Francisco’s immigrant communities.
But some attendees had words for them as well. One honoree was Amy Dai, who won a grassroots leader award for her work helping low-income, immigrant families find and keep housing in Chinatown. Her work is under threat, albeit not by ICE.
San Francisco is facing a budget deficit. Under the mayor’s current proposal to reduce spending, funding for many nonprofits is on the chopping block. Dai said she was honored to receive her award.
But, under the mayor’s proposed budget, the programs she works for at the nonprofit Chinatown Community Development Center are slated to be cut to zero.
“Now, more than ever,” Dai said, “we need to speak up and let the mayor and the supervisors know why this program matters.”