Mission Local has been covering immigration enforcement in San Francisco for months, attending asylum hearings, reporting on protests and diving deep into the data on how many people Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested.
A lot has happened in that time. Readers could be forgiven for tuning out the news. The MAGA approach to PR, as articulated by Steve Bannon, is to focus on “muzzle velocity” and flood the zone with news.
To bring you up to speed, here’s what’s happened in San Francisco over the past nine months as illustrated by Neil Ballard.
Jan. 20, 2025
The same day President Donald Trump took office, he issued dozens of orders, including one to expand a process known as “expedited removal,” which U.S. immigration officials had used along the border to quickly return immigrants to their home countries.
Instead of limiting it to the border area, it could now be used across the country to remove any undocumented immigrant โphysically present in the country for less than two years.โ
It quickly became clear in San Francisco and other large cities that ICE agents found it most convenient to arrest immigrants attending regularly scheduled hearings at federal immigration courts.
Mission Local was among the first to cover these arrests, and often continues to be the only local media that goes daily to the courtrooms at 100 Montgomery St. and 630 Sansome St.
June 5: ICE makes 15 arrests at field office
ICE agents begin rounding up immigrants, including children, and using expedited removal. June 5 is the first day of mass arrests in San Francisco.
June 6: ICE keeps arresting asylum-seekers at court
The first case of expedited removal comes in late May, but by June 6, the immigration courts at 630 Sansome St. and 100 Montgomery St. become the focus for ICE arrests. Immigrants attending regularly scheduled asylum hearings are arrested as they leave the courtroom.
June 10: Protests erupt
Arrests from regular check-ins provoke protests that shut down immigration court for a day.
June 11: Federal attorneys try to dismiss asylum cases
San Francisco lawyers say there is no question that the Trump tactic of expedited removal is being used at the courthouse. Immigrants seeking asylum who once had protection while their cases were decided no longer have that protection.
โThe tactic is unlawful,” said Milli Atkinson, the Immigrant Legal Defense Program Director for the Justice and Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
June 11: Conservative judges weigh in
One of the first asylum-seekers arrested in San Francisco has his case transferred to a more conservative judge elsewhere in the state, and the new judge sides with the Department of Homeland Security.
June 13: Colombian detained
Friends talk about a Colombian immigrant in detention.
โHe was following the rules that were in place at that moment,โ said one friend. โHe didnโt break the law. He showed up.โ
Jafet Santiago Diaz had studied economics and graphic design at a university in Colombia, the friend said, but had to flee before he could get his degree.
July 8: More protests prompt backlash
ICE agents drive a van through protestors gathered outside of immigration court.
Video of the incident captured by Mission Local makes it to the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and more.
July 15: Asylum-seeker asks to be deported
In a development that would be repeated, Mission Local witnesses an immigrant give up his asylum case and ask for voluntary removal. He feared being detained by ICE.
The judge granted his request for voluntary departure.
โThank you for the opportunity to be in this country,โ the man told the judge.
July 18: Trump fires sympathetic judges
In a tactic that would become increasingly common, Trump fires another San Francisco immigration judge, bringing the total to four fired since April.
Three of them granted asylum cases at a rate higher than the national average.
July 29 & 30: Immigrants sent to detention centers in Arizona and Hawaii
One of those arrested was a man whose courtroom demeanor โ he was mumbling to himself through the morning โ led the immigration-court judge to say he appeared to be mentally impaired.
โItโs obvious to me that there are competency issues,โ the judge, Patrick OโBrien, said at the time. ICE arrested the man moments later, anyway.
July 30: More than 2,000 immigrants have been arrested by ICE in Northern California and the Pacific
โLook, weโre going to deport you no matter what,โ one immigrant was told. โYou sign, or you donโt sign. I have to deport you. So itโs better that you sign your removal now. Itโll be quicker.โ
Aug. 1: He hardly knows Mexico
In California, one man used to wake at 4 a.m. to head to Wente Vineyards, where, for nine years, heโd weld, or maneuver hulking mechanical harvesters to pull grapes from the vines. Now, heโs been deported to a Mexican town he hardly knows โ and there is no work.
Aug. 6: Habeas corpus petitions
The arrests continue, but lawyers begin to have some luck in getting defendants released by filing habeas corpus petitions.
After his release, a 20-year-old asylum-seeker headed home immediately. Within 30 minutes, he was walking into his familyโs kitchen, to cries of joy from his mother, who immediately flung her arms around him.
Aug. 14: 80 years of immigration history at 630 Sansome St.
Detainees who have stayed overnight at the ICE field office recently said that the cells are cold, and they sometimes have to sleep on the floor with just a Mylar blanket.
Aug. 22: Trump fires a fifth judge
Again, the judge had a high asylum clearance rate: 96.5 percent.
Aug. 29: Judge rejects Trumpโs expansion of expedited removal
Sept. 3: Trump fires a sixth judge
Some of the fired judges were relatively new to their positions and still in their two-year probationary period, which makes it easier to terminate their employment.
But Judge Shira Levine, who was hired in 2021, had surpassed this window. Judge Chloe S. Dillon had also surpassed her two-year probationary period.
Sept. 4: ICE continues arresting, despite judge’s order
ICE officers arrest five people in immigration court โ the first known arrests in court since a federal judge blocked Trumpโs expansion of expedited removal.
Sept. 7: Immigration court illustrated
Mission Local sends illustrator Neil Ballard to draw up a morning of asylum hearings.
Sept. 18: ACLU sues ICE over San Francisco conditions
The plaintiffs allege that conditions inside 630 Sansome are unconstitutional.
The holding cells on the sixth floor of the building have โno beds,โ and asylum seekers are โforced to sleep on metal benches or directly on the floor โฆ with nothing more than a thin plastic or foil blanket or a thin mat.โ
Lest we forget the democrats’ very own *Hillary Clinton* saying in 2008: โIf Theyโve Committed a Crime, Deport Themโ . Now, Donald Trump actually gets it done and there seems to be a problem?
Do a simple google search for : “Hillary Clinton in 2008: โIf Theyโve Committed a Crime Deport Themโ
Also search: “deportations of undocumented immigrants reached record levels during former President Barack Obama’s first term.”
When democrats call for it, no one here in San Francisco batted and eye.
When Donald Trump actually made it happen, democrats are up in arms.
If they committed a crime is probably the sticking point. would you want people who jay walk to be put in jail? people who were speeding? people who were brought here when they were babies by their parents? how do you define a criminal? how about people who attacked police officers at the capitol or someone who incited a riot by directing them to take back America. The definition of who is a criminal appears to depend on the person who is speaking and what is appropriate punishment also seems to depend on if it’s someone you know or care about or if it is some stranger that is being blamed for all of societies problems.
The racist Republicans on this site are truly a sight to behold.
*thank you for illustrating it all….we all need to wake up to this reality and speak out.
This graphic account is absolutely wonderful. Thank you Neil.
And, sorry about readers like “Nette”, but I guess that’s “free speech.”
This is what the GREAT majority of the nation voted for. Trump clearly stated that if he won the election he would conduct massive deportations. I donโt see why people are so surprised . Of course everyone is an asylum seeker. Of course everyone is being persecuted in their native land. Whatever it takes to stay in a country that they entered illegally. That includes people that overstayed their visas. We must take care of our own before we take in refugees. In a world where resources are becoming scarce selective immigration is important. If we keep importing people from underdeveloped nations the country will become a third world nation .
Itโs not the country thatโs the problem, itโs the people . For example if Japan were to takeover Honduras watch how in 3 or 4 generations the country would become a leading nation.
Borders should be protected to preserve the nationโs integrity. And that whole stolen land concept is irrelevant. Europe conquered and Santana sold, thatโs life .
My humble opinion
Nope, he said he would deport dangerous criminals and gang members, drug mules, human traffickers, child molesters, etc.
He didn’t say Carmen the old lady who waits tables at the local coffee shop, or Henry the father of 4 who went to his court date for an asylum hearing that he never gets, though it’s protected by the Constitution for all people including non-citizens.
You want to pretend Trump didn’t lie about that? Sorry, nope.
Your humble opinion disregards the humanity and value of the lives of these people and trivializes or discounts the real dangers some of them have left. They have a right under international and US law to put forward their asylum case to a judge, and that right is infringed right now by a quota system that impels ICE to detain people regardless of the validity of their cases or their personal situations. I have observed what is happening in these courtrooms and even the judges are sometimes shocked by the disregard ICE shows for the law and the judges’ decisions. The racism that undergirds some of your comment speaks for itself, and it has certainly always played a role in US immigration policy, but never more than now, when the advocates of mass deportation also embrace the white supremacist “replacement theory.” “Opinion” cannot erase the value of a human being.
There’s been no official effort to verify the validity of the election results. Democratic party just buckled and didn’t contest anything. It could very well have been stolen. Lots of information is coming out showing statistical anomalies in the swing states. It would fit with Trump’s history of accusing others of what he does.
Trump is a criminal either way.
To be fair you have to have valid supportable reasons to even accuse anyone of anything, lest of all accuse a vast conspiracy on thousands of individual polling stations etc based on… what exactly? Statistical anomalies happen, that’s a big part of statistical analysis – how many Std Deviations / Sigma, what can explain it vs. it can’t be explained vs. it’s actually impossible, etc. You won’t see the Democratic party throwing bombs loosely alleging fraud without evidence because that doesn’t work with people who pay attention, it only works on Trump supporters because they already had the conspiracy theory low-information susceptibility and the everlasting victimstance issue baked-in. Democrat voters require facts where Republicans can fake populist feelings and the blob rolls on.
Trump’s margin over Harris was less than two percent, and he did not get a majority of the votes cast. In addition, about 2/5 of eligible voters did not cast a ballot.So the first sentence is wrong. And look at the history of World War 2 to see how countries did after being taken over by Japan.
Amazing depiction of the tragic reality…most journalists can’t get photos inside the courthouses, so than you for illustrating it all. Regarding the posted comment of “this is what the GREAT majority of the nation voted for”, I would say those voters were scammed by Trump, not just because of the xenophobic and racist fear mongering rhetoric, but because Trump said he would be going after “criminals”, while he’s gone after a majority of folks with no criminal histories (just being gardeners, day-laborers, students, etc). And Trump says that this is part of making government more “efficient”, helping the economy, and that this is what a “Christian” nation does? Please, don’t fall for this scam.
Trump IS the scam.
Republicans are braindead.
“I would say those voters were scammed by Trump, not just because of the xenophobic and racist fear mongering rhetoric, but because Trump said he would be going after โcriminalsโ”
This is exactly right. You see husbands and wives of US deportees who voted for Trump bowing their heads and admitting they were fooled by his lies.
They thought he really was going to only go after “the” criminals.
As he pardons them en masse and individually, as he is one himself.
Well, ‘won’t get fooled again’ is a great song.