San Francisco supervisors asked local law enforcement on Tuesday to come up with protocols for responding to immigration enforcement on San Francisco’s streets.
The city has seen masked federal agents arresting immigrants downtown, and elected officials warned of a public safety risk.
Unidentified law enforcement officers on the streets of San Francisco “erode any public trust that is being built between communities, especially communities of color, and law enforcement agencies,” said District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen, who introduced the nonbinding resolution at a Board of Supervisors meeting.
“We need our police department and sheriff’s office to prioritize taking the steps necessary to preserve public trust during this time,” Chen added.
Because the resolution is non-binding, it essentially asks the San Francisco police and sheriff’s departments to come up with guidelines for their officers and deputies about what to do when they receive calls for service related to suspected Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests.
It also asks law enforcement to tell San Francisco residents what those guidelines are.
The resolution points to the Los Angeles Police Department’s protocols as a possible template. On June 27, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell announced that, if officers encounter masked people who appear to be ICE agents, the department’s policy is to have officers 1) ask to speak to a lead agent or supervisor, 2) confirm the credentials of that lead agent or supervisor, and 3) capture the entire process on body-worn cameras.
If that lead agent or supervisor is confirmed to be with ICE, LAPD officers are then instructed to allow them to continue their work.
Chen called the development of such protocols a “modest but important step in safeguarding public trust, upholding public safety for all of our city’s residents, and standing up for the due process rights that are afforded to everyone.”
The ask comes a week after San Francisco police officers were caught on video standing half a block away from a violent ICE protest on July 8 outside of immigration court, during which an ICE agent brandished a rifle at protesters and ICE drove a van through half a dozen protesters, throwing one off the hood.
Two days later, on July 11, San Francisco Deputy Chief Derrick Lew suggested at a town hall in the Castro that the police might actually get involved between ICE agents and protesters. He said police should be a “peacekeeper” during ICE arrests, and that officers couldn’t “just sit by and watch our fellow law enforcement agent or officer get hurt.”
The statements and last week’s protest, combined with reporting from the San Francisco Standard showing data flows between surveillance cameras and ICE, prompted Supervisor Jackie Fielder this week to officially demand answers from SFPD about its protocols with ICE.
Five additional supervisors signed on in support of the resolution, according to Chen’s office: Connie Chan, Fielder, Bilal Mahmood, Shamann Walton and Myrna Melgar.
San Francisco has not seen the mass raids at gathering places like job sites that Los Angeles has. Instead, many arrests have taken place at routine check-ins outside of ICE’s field offices, at 630 Sansome St., and after hearings at the city’s main immigration court, at 100 Montgomery St.
It’s a tricky time for the police department to craft new policy. In May, Police Chief Bill Scott left the department. Interim chief Paul Yep has insisted that he is not a candidate for the permanent job.
The mayor’s office declined to comment on the supervisors’ resolution, citing previous administrations’ policies of not commenting on non-binding resolutions.
Mayor Daniel Lurie has spoken about the Trump administration’s immigration policies in general terms, and described them as making San Franciscans less safe. But he has been reticent to weigh in directly on ICE arrests here, and has faced criticism from immigration advocates for not doing so.
“The safety of San Francisco residents is SFPD’s number one priority, and we are constantly reviewing and updating our training and protocols to ensure public safety for any situation that arises. Under longstanding city policy, local law enforcement officers are generally prohibited from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration laws — that policy keeps our city safer,” according to a statement from the SFPD.
A spokeswoman for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department told Mission Local on Wednesday that the department was reviewing the resolution.
San Francisco’s 1989 sanctuary ordinance prohibits all city employees, including police officers, from assisting ICE, including supporting investigations or raids. Local law enforcement can only respond when it “appears reasonably necessary to prevent serious injury to persons, whether or not a criminal offense is involved.”
The presence of masked officers across California has sparked concerns about the possibility of vigilantes impersonating law enforcement.
State Sens. Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguin introduced legislation on June 16 that would prohibit local, state and federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks while conducting operations in public, though it’s not clear if California could really force federal agents to take off their masks.
Wiener later told Politico’s Playbook: “The idea that people who are dressed as if they’re robbing a liquor store are running around grabbing Californians and throwing them into unmarked vehicles and taking them God knows where — it’s like a dystopian nightmare.”
San Francisco’s supervisors have weighed in on ICE before. On June 17, they voted to adopt a resolution condemning “the abduction of immigrants” by ICE, and urging “strict adherence to due process, family unity, and humane treatment of migrants who safely and lawfully pursue their claims.”
SFPD, law enforcement, violates the law, and all the supes can do is pass a resolution and say pretty please?
SFPD is the Israel of San Francisco.
The supes and the public need to pressure the mayor to come out of hiding on this.
Supes don’t get it. Cops are not our friends. The best thing to have happen is to have them stay far and wide, as they did during the last shit show. The alternative is that they would have gotten in the mix and arrested protesters. How would that have looked?
I don’t believe for one second LAPD are approaching a roving gang of ICE agents and asking to speak to a supervisor. It’s nonsense, and not how ‘the thin blue line’ operates.
I wonder if there is some way to flood the streets with people all wearing the masks so that whoever ICE is after can put a similar mask on and blend in with the crowd and then everyone can scatter in all directions. ICE would have to stop everyone or risk letting their target get away. Since ICE is also wearing masks, they would be participating in helping to keep the person anonymous along with everyone else who is there to confuse and waste ICE’s time and energy. Even if the tactic is not one hundred percent successful, it would be better than just allowing ICE to terrorize the community with no response from the people of san francisco. It would be good to recruit people who have similar build so they could be mistaken for the target of the ICE kidnapping. In the mean time, if they leave their vehicles parked illegally, why not call to have them towed since everyone else is also at risk of having cars towed in SF.
Boy, so naive. SFPD has reasonably been trying to stay out of this. If their hand is forced, the only plan could be (a) take reasonable measures to ensure that ICE agents really are ICE agents (which they are), and then (b) arrest anyone who obstructs ICE agents. SFPD cannot stop federal officers from doing their jobs, sick as that job may be. So you’re dragging them into a fight they do not want to participate in, and they will have no choice but to side with the people you are against. Protest ICE and their nonsense as that is effective, but don’t engage in foolish and counterproductive behavior.
Actually, SFPD can investigate crimes and arrest people, even if they are ICE agents.
I do not trust anyone from the law enforcement wearing a scarf, a mask to protect his/her identity..only thugs do that, people who rob stores or banks, only people who knows they are breaking the laws..The death squads in South America use to do the same , cover their faces…this happening here make us look like a total fascist state..which we are not too far off.
Bad look Lurie. BAD.
Viva SFPD!