More than 15 people were arrested Wednesday at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in San Francisco, a move that has prompted widespread fear and confusion in the Bay Area.
ICE undertook the action on Wednesday at its field office at 630 Sansome St., said Priya Patel, a supervising attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. The people who were arrested were members of three different families; they included at least four children, including one child who is 3 years old, said Patel.
One of those families was a 25-year-old woman and her two children. The woman’s sister, who spoke under the pseudonym Yaneth at a press conference Thursday, said her sister had been complying with all ICE requirements when she was detained.
“The fact that they let this happen was wrong,” Yaneth said in Spanish, through an interpreter. “I’m asking for justice, and for something to be done.”
When Yaneth’s sister was arested, she was wearing an ankle monitor, Yaneth said. This is a standard tool that ICE uses as an alternative to detention, often for recent arrivals.
As people stay in the United States for longer and demonstrate that they will turn up to check-ins and hearings, they often have the ankle monitors removed, though this happens more slowly during Trump administrations, said Milli Atkinson, the Immigrant Legal Defense Program Director for the Justice and Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Patel said that Yaneth’s sister and nieces were transferred to Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a for-profit detention facility in Texas.
It was not immediately clear Thursday where the other two families were being held. All three families are believed to have spent Wednesday night at the ICE field office, Patel said.
A spokesperson for ICE said hours ago that a statement would be ready shortly. This story will be updated if and when one is released.
News of arrests sparks uneasiness among city immigrants
Among both legal and undocumented immigrants, the brazen act sparked uneasiness and fear.
“I am afraid to go out on the street,” a man who asked to only go by his first name, Felipe, told Mission Local in Spanish, at the start of his shift as a server at a Mission District restaurant.
As he cleaned the front window of the restaurant, he said had come to San Francisco two years ago from Mexico to earn money to support his family. He said he was still working on paying back the cost of traveling to the United States.
“I’m afraid of getting caught,” he added. “To have them take me? I don’t want that. I’m still getting started. Getting here to the States cost lots of money and I owe lots. … I like it here. I came to work. I didn’t come to steal from anyone. I didn’t come to hit anyone. No, I came to work. The only thing I came here to do is to help my family.”
Some people nearby who have legal status said they weren’t concerned. “He who owes nothing fears nothing,” said a man waiting for the 14-Mission bus. Others, however, said news like ICE arrests complicates people’s ability to live their daily lives, and even do things like get out of the home to go to the doctor.
A criminal defense attorney who works in San Mateo County said one of her clients was afraid to come to a previously scheduled court hearing Thursday because he had heard about arrests in San Francisco. (The defense attorney asked to remain anonymous to protect her clients.)
The three families had all voluntarily gone to the ICE field office on Wednesday. They were there either for regularly scheduled check-ins, or they were instructed, some at the last minute, to come to the ICE office, Patel said.
Generally, ICE requires check-ins to make sure people are showing up to court hearings, or meeting other requirements based on their legal standing, Atkinson said. Attending mandatory check-ins is often a precondition of supervised release, so failing to show up could result in an arrest.
The San Francisco mayor’s office said it had not been notified that any of the people who were arrested Wednesday were San Francisco residents.
These arrests followed ICE arrests last week at an immigration court in San Francisco, at 100 Montgomery St. Immigration attorneys and advocates told the San Francisco Standard they saw four arrests.
Those four people have since been moved to a detention center called the Golden State Annex in McFarland in Kern County, Atkinson said.
Their cases were moved to a detention court based in San Diego, she added.
ICE has not yet given any clear reasons why the agency detained the three families on Wednesday, Atkinson said. ICE confirmed that Yaneth’s sister’s legal status had not changed, Patel said.
Immigration rights advocates, however, believe that ICE field offices are being pressured to increase deportations; President Donald Trump has called for “mass deportations” in the United States.
Said Atkinson: “Calling in people who they know will show up voluntarily is the easiest way for them to detain people.”
A day after being contacted by Mission Local, ICE provided the following statement:
“Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order. If you are in the country illegally and a judge has ordered you to be removed, that is precisely what will happen. During the Biden administration, thousands of illegal aliens — including violent criminals — with final orders of removal were on ATD and allowed to roam our communities. This should never have been the case. Thanks to the leadership of Secretary Noem and President Trump, the proper policy is back in place.”
Appalling. Sad. Mean. We are all waiting to see the hordes of white Americans dropping their resume to replace the people doing their jobs..LOL..it won’t happen. The white Anglo is the first in line to complain but when it comes to step it up and apply to work the dishwashing, line cook/salad/dessert sections in a restaurant for example, or be a roofer or whatever those people are doing, the white Anglo is a no show. But he gets a gold medal for complaining.
“hordes of white Americans” — Are you aware that there are literally tens of millions of non-white American citizens?
And those non white American citizens have also been detained illegally and some even deported.
To Handy: in all my years in the restaurant industry, not a single one anglo ever dropped a resume to work as a dishwasher, a line cook, a dessert/salad prep person..reality..FACT.I would have hired them.. and remember it is SF so the people get at least the minimum wage. And your argument of them taking housing..lol! have you ever been to one of the places they live in? they cannot afford the rent (Handy please talk to the landlords;thank you) , so they usually live in large numbers together..some of them even share beds since some work during the day and some during the nights..Handy, with all due respect, do you want to do that? and guess what : they save money to help their families where they come from, build houses, etc..Handy, again with all due respect, do you want to consider the US foreign politics/policies implemented the last 6 decades to maybe find the reasons why they are coming here?
Handy, sorry i forgot: if this week, this month, you noticed some houses which were in the process of being painted/some roofs in the process of being repaired, well lot of unfinished work on your street, abandoned work, just call Ice to ask them to take a break so the work can be at least finished because you won’t be happy since it is going to look shady.Or get on Tik Tok to assemble a crew to finish the jobs.
Let me get this straight: In order to save some money on repair and renovations of your San Francisco home (what’s the assessed value?), instead of hiring an American worker who might belong to a union, you would rather hire an unlicensed illegal immigrant who has no company health insurance or other benefits, including overtime pay?
So that if a worker gets injured repairing your roof, that worker will either not seek medical attention for fear of ICE, or will get treated in an ER at taxpayer expense, thus passing along a cost of your renovation to the rest of us?
What was your home’s assessed value again?
And I’m the bad guy?
That is very naive to believe that “whom the owes nothing fears nothing”. Lots of innocent people in the prison system can attest to that.
Trump promised he would prosecute undocumented immigrants, and he is. In this one area, he and ICE are following the law.
It is terrible, but it is not illegal (unlike so many other actions of this administration).
Is it wise to arrest people who are following the process, showing up for hearings? No. Our government basically is encouraging undocumented people to go into hiding, to refuse to cooperate, to give up on whatever system we have to grant or deny asylum.
This heart-wrenching drama is the fruit of decades worth of inaction to reform immigration policies so that we in the US have the necessary labor for many jobs, necessary expertise for the knowledge industries.
Without reform we either let in a bunch of people who don’t qualify as refugees (Biden) or deny entry to everyone Willy-Billy (Trump). Terrible.
“The fact that they let this happen was wrong”
Unfortunately, “their” side bothered to turn out to vote last November while “our” side did not. I’m hoping tragic developments like this and the hundreds of others going on right now will shake people out of their apathy or their tantrums regarding some unrealistic pet demand that elected officials would never be able to provide (and certainly not if we cede elections by simply staying home). But I acknowledge that is a hope and not an expectation.
👎
Interesting to note:
If any US citizen illegally goes into Mexico, crosses the border and tries to enter as an illegal alien there, the penalties are even worse:
Mexican Immigration Enforcement
*Article 123 – Mexico’s ‘General Law of Population’ mandates that “a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five hundred thousand pesos ($26,836.42 United States Dollars) will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally.”
Penalties regarding illegal immigration into Mexico, per the “General Law of Population” , are as follows:
*Article 125 – Foreigners who have legal issues involving immigration will be at risk of deportation from Mexico rather than being sentenced to prison.
*Article 126 – Any foreigner who “attempt against national sovereignty or security” will be deported from Mexico.
There are also penalties that will be imposed on Mexican nationals who provide assistance to illegal aliens in terms of illegally entering the country. These penalties will officially cause them to be considered criminals under the law and are as follows, per the General Law of Population:
*Article 127 – A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the intention of helping them live in the country will face a total of up to five years in prison.
*Article 132 – Fines will be imposed on any and all airline and shipping companies who bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico.
Illegal immigration is a felony under Mexican law.
source: https://lawyerfrommexico.com/mexico-immigration-laws-penalties/
Thanks
Everyone should come here legally .
Everyone should be entitled to due process .
What this city needs is a team like ice to go after the criminals on the street involved with drugs sales and usage .
This is the problem in SF
Also see the democrats are know with the republican s who are agsinst sanctuary cities
Sanctuary cities have no legal right to prevent people who are here from being removed
Everyone is welcome to usa except criminals and freeloaders .
Follow the process whether it is asylum or other legal ways .
But illegal entry is always wrong and selfish
A) They’re detaining and deporting people who came here LEGALLY too! There’s no due process so they just round people up!
B) “Illegal Illegal illegal follow the law” This is literally illegal, what ICE is doing. Rounding even legal residents and citizens up without due process. Suddenly we don’t care about what’s illegal!
[from the article]
ICE provided the following statement:
“Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order. If you are in the country illegally and a judge has ordered you to be removed, that is precisely what will happen. During the Biden administration, thousands of illegal aliens — including violent criminals — with final orders of removal were on ATD and allowed to roam our communities. This should never have been the case. Thanks to the leadership of Secretary Noem and President Trump, the proper policy is back in place.”
Good.
Illegal immigrants in San Francisco are taking housing when there isn’t enough for local workers. And they’re taking jobs. And these illegal immigrant children are being cared for at taxpayer expense.
IF Mission Local runs this comment — doubtful, but we’ll see — I’m sure there will be personal insults leveled by people who want public money spent on illegal immigrants. To which I say, if you want to support them, head on down to Cesar Chavez Ave. in the morning with a wad of cash and give it to the day workers there. Spend your money. Not the public’s. We have a budget crisis and the city is deciding who to lay off. Stop sending money on illegal immigrants.
I want to spend public money on illegal immigrants and everybody else too.
Dude’s a good reminder that Hitler had a constituency.
Debating the guy is kinda pointless.
Stephen Gifford: Ah yes. Disagree with a progressive on anything and you are automatically a Nazi. There is no room for discussion: it’s either I agree with you 100%, or I wear a swastika armband.
I don’t have to call you names. You have revealed yourself.
anonymous coward handy – you seem like a lovely person lol
are you excited that little kids are going through hell right now? does that excite you? there is no reason for the extra harm being done except to traumatize people. are you really ok with that?
Look up the word “scapegoating”. Now I’ve doubled your IQ.
Handy – can you bring the receipts on bigoted comment?
Central & So American immigrants, mostly do work considered beneath US workers. Just take a walk around construction sites & playgrounds.
We do not “take housing”, we pay for the housing we use. Most of us, take very little space (2 to 3 people) per bedrooms & no livingroom. We are good for the Uas economy & we have a small environmental foot print.
Dear Immigrant: Are you here legally?
If so, welcome! Thank you for coming! And thank you for contributing to our city, our economy and our society.
There is no bigotry in my comment. I mentioned no race or nation of people. I differentiate between people who are here legally, and those who are not.
I am a HUGE supporter of legal immigration. We need a lot more immigrants as they are a great source of strength. But as a nation, we should choose who comes, not merely accept anyone who breaks the law to come here.
Ha! Only thing this comment shows is how poorly we’ve invested in education in our country. It’s a shame we end up with idiots who think it’s acceptable to be so incredibly bigoted. Zero critical thinking and absolutely abhorrent social skills. Real crying shame.
Hey Do you know undocumented workers people pay more tax than rich people? It’s a fact! Google it.It’s a cult no doubt about it.
You can advocate for the undocumented without pretending they pay more in taxes than high income earners. The top 1% of tax filers pay well over 50% of all taxes. Even if you supposed the line cooks at El Farolito we’re paying taxes at all, you’re not getting much tax burden at $50k in reportable income.