On the morning after many thousands of anti-Trump, anti-ICE protesters streamed through San Francisco’s streets and millions did the same in hundreds of other cities, a small group of demonstrators were back, early, for a second go.
This morning, more than 100 people staked out a building at 478 Tehama St. in SoMa. It houses a detention alternative program of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In an irregular move, a number of immigrants purportedly received short notice to report here over the weekend. Saturday and Sunday appointments are a rarity and activists surmised it portended arrests and potential deportation actions. Protesters showed up early on Saturday and, again, today.
Jean Moses, 75, Oakland, was here yesterday, too. “What’s happened to the immigrant families hurts me,” she said. “It’s so appalling that we would treat anybody like that.”
Dozens of immigrants have been arrested in the past week and change by federal agents. In a Catch-22, many were mandated to show up at check-ins or court appearances where failure to appear could lead to arrest, but were arrested when they showed.
Keith Pavlik, 68, of San Francisco was not here yesterday. But he’s here now. “I feel that this is a great injustice, and I want to stand against it,” he said. He’ll stay today for as long as he can: “I have really bad arthritis, so an hour and a half is probably my max.”
Both Moses and Pavlik were standing at what appears to be the back entrance of the building, on Howard Street. Most protesters, perhaps 100 of them, are walking in a large oval at the other entrance, on Tehama Street.
Perhaps 50 or so more are playing instruments or offering legal advice to the handful of immigrants present who appear to have gotten the ICE check-in notifications.
While posted hours for the building are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., it didn’t open yesterday. Lawyers present suggested to immigrants that they take a selfie on-site to prove they complied with the check-in order, upload it into the ICE app, and then leave.
Ghassan Shamieh, an immigration attorney on scene Sunday, is offering similar advice today. Immigrants have been told to text ICE via its app that they are at the building, and take a photo as evidence. Mission Local observed at least one person doing just that.
Protesters arrived at 7 a.m. on Sunday, and no one has yet seen any indication that anyone is within the building.
One difference from yesterday: At some point after Saturday morning, someone has tagged the building with slogans like “ICE get out” and “Bella ciao.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as possible.
Thank you for covering the Tehama St. ICE story. I lived and eas active in the Mission for decades; now I’m in Sonoma County but still working in SF several days a week, and sometimes gp to demos there still. After losing the Bay Guardian, it’s great to have responsible grassroots coverage of the city and esp of La Mission. Muchisimas gracias.
The Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) helps their participants through the immigration process. Because ISAP participants are required to wear ankle monitors, they AVOID jail or deportation .
I was there. This was a sneaky tactic by ICE and their subcontractor. Many wondered if it was simply a hoax, but word got around that similar texts were sent to people in the Fresno area, and when they reported, they were detained by ICE. It was pretty emotionally watching folks show up for their appointments to find hundreds of community members had shut the building down and there was free legal help available to advise folks on what to do. People with kids, families, showing up, hoping to not be separated. There were tears from a lot of these folks. It was powerful stuff. This is direct action, and it saved lives.
The Chornicle has a story with some additional context and quotes that’s worth a read if you can get past the paywall.
While the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) is operated under the authority of the federal government, the program itself is managed by BI Incorporated, a private contractor, rather than federal employees. BI Incorporated supervises participants in ISAP while they go through the immigration process, but its staff are not ICE officers or federal employees. ISAP participants are required to wear ankle monitors, which transmit location data to ICE or its contractors. Why would ICE need to lure them to 478 Tehama Street? ICE already knows where they live.