In early June, three families—including four children—spent the entire night at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s field office in San Francisco, at 630 Sansome St., after showing up for routine check-ins.
It was a shocking story: At least 15 people, sleeping on the floor, in the holding room of an ICE field office overnight.
The holding rooms at Sansome Street are meant to be a throughpoint; people are processed there, and held until they can be sent to a longer-term detention facility, elsewhere in the state or the country.
Directives from ICE’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations capped the time immigrants could be detained in holding rooms to 12 hours “absent exceptional circumstances.” It expanded that to 72 hours on June 24, according to court documents in an ongoing lawsuit about similar practices in Baltimore’s ICE field office.
But, in fact, lengthy confinement in holding rooms inside the field office at 630 Sansome St. had happened as early as February, when two people were detained for 13 hours on Feb. 6.
By June 24, when the policy was changed from 12 hours to 72 hours, at least 38 people had already been held for more than 12 hours at 630 Sansome St, according to Mission Local’s analysis of data made available by the Deportation Data project.
Even the 72-hours haven’t been long enough. Mission Local is aware of at least two people who were arrested on mid-morning on a Friday in July and were held for more than 72 hours at 630 Sansome St. They were not removed from Sansome St. until very late Monday evening—putting their total confinement at the holding facility over 72 hours. Those same asylum-seekers were taken to Arizona, then to a detention center in Texas, according to ICE’s locator.
Lengthy confinement seems to correlate with spikes of arrests. In January, a total of 47 people were held at the facility. Between June 1 and June 26—the most recent data the Deportation Date project has—155 people were held there. Of those 38 held more than 12-hours, all but three were held on June 3 or June 4 — the day that the 15 people, including the four children, were arrested at an ICE check-in.
At San Francisco’s ICE field office, more immigrants are being held longer
People booked into detention
160
140
120
100
In June, 35 people
were held at the SFR
Hold Room for more
than 12 hours
80
60
40
20
Sept.
2024
May
Sept.
2025
May
People booked into detention
160
140
120
In June, 35 people
were held at the SFR
Hold Room for more
than 12 hours
100
80
60
40
20
Oct.
2024
Apr.
July
Oct.
2025
Apr.
Data from the Deportation Data Project. The data includes detention bookings up until June 26, 2025. Chart by Kelly Waldron.
(The records from the Deportation Data project do not list any minors held on June 4. This might have been because those children’s ages were incorrectly entered into ICE records, or because the records are incomplete.)
An ICE spokesman responded to Mission Local’s queries about the the length of time people are detained at Sansome St. and the conditions at the holding facility with the following statement:
“The ICE field office in San Francisco is intended to hold aliens while they are going through the intake process. Afterwards, they are moved to a longer-term detention facility. There are occasions where detainees might need to stay at the San Francisco office longer than anticipated. While these instances are rare, the field office is equipped to facilitate the aliens [sic] daily and emergent needs. Aliens are always given ample food, regular access to phones, legal representation, as well as medical care when needed.”
Days instead of hours
Mission Local is aware of at least two holding cells. They were not meant for long stays and people who have been held in them have varying accounts of the conditions inside. Some people said they slept on thin mats on the ground of the cells. Others have said there are metal bunks.
Multiple people said the holding rooms are cold; some people said they slept overnight with nothing but a mylar blanket.
One man said through his lawyer that he did not get a toothbrush for the entire three days that he was confined in the holding room. Another man said he was given a toothbrush promptly—though he wasn’t able to shower.
One lawyer said his client had her clothes taken away and had to wear a gray sweatsuit. In other cases, people have stayed in the clothes they were arrested in. The toilets, some have said, are almost open-air, with a partial wall that barely provides any privacy.
All people detained in the center appear to get at least one call to their family members. Sometimes, they get more.
Once a person is inside the holding cell, however, it can be difficult for family members to contact them. ICE’s locator directs family or friends to call a visitor information line. Mission Local has tried calling that number multiple times since Monday. Every time, an automated response has said the number cannot be completed as dialed.
In some cases, extended detention at 630 Sansome St. has allowed people time to file habeas corpus petitions that have led to their release. Habeas corpus petitions need to be filed before someone is taken out of San Francisco. If moved, the petition needs to be re-filed in the new location so an extra 48 hours at Sansome Street can make a difference in filing one of those petitions in time.
But that isn’t enough to justify a long-term detention, said Jordan Wells, who runs the immigrant justice program at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
If ICE weren’t “abusing this short-term facility for long-term detention,” Wells added, “they wouldn’t be able to make any of those courtroom or ICE field office arrests at all—because they’d have nowhere to put people. Though Wells said the arrests of immigrants exiting the courtroom for routine asylum hearings should not be happening in the first place.
An indication of this, Wells said, is the recent trend of federal district judges who are siding with people who have filed habeas corpus petitions. Essentially, the judges are agreeing that the arrests are likely illegal.
But ICE does not appear to be slowing down.
Three people were arrested after routine hearings on Friday, all of whom, based off of the ICE locator, appeared Friday afternoon to still be in the holding center.
ICE officers were so eager to arrest one of them that they tried to nab the man as he stepped out of the courtroom to meet privately with a volunteer attorney before his hearing was even finished. The court’s clerk, known for being a stickler for court decorum, had to run out the courtroom door, yelling “The judge has not adjourned yet!”
When the officers finally relented, the clerk stepped back inside the courtroom, muttering “Jesus Christ.”
Frankie Solinsky Duryea contributed reporting.
And what of the legal asylum cases and others with every right to be here—not to mention US citizens—who’ve been swept up? ICE is acting illegally in those cases. No double standards if you’re going to argue the law.
And nobody’s lining up for those Central Valley field jobs and other low-paying, menial work.
Wow, shocking. I imagine that people who walked across Central American jungles and all across Mexico to illegally enter the US to take our jobs and housing must be really inconvenienced by spending a night on the floor.
“illegally”. These are ppl in asylum proceedings, no law broken. Not that you’d care, given the MAGA crowd’s consideration for the law in general.
“take our jobs”. I want to see you labor at the meat packing plant or pick berries in 110 degrees in the Central Valley.
Not to mention they’re going after NATURALIZED CITIZENS with GREEN CARDS and zero criminal offenses of note or substance, certainly not violence or gang-related activity as advertised by the little red childrens’ hat crowd.
It’s LIES.