At 9 a.m. Friday, a 66-year-old woman who has been in the United States for more than 10 years and has legal work authorization was followed by multiple unmarked vehicles in Diamond Heights.
After she parked and stepped out of her car, she was approached by immigration agents, some masked.
According to the San Francisco Rapid Response Network, a coalition of immigration nonprofits that operates an emergency hotline to verify immigration incidents, the agents blocked her employer’s driveway with their cars.
Her employer, noticing what was going on, asked the agents for a warrant. They did not comply, and refused to identify themselves or provide paperwork, according to Ghassan Shamieh, the immigration attorney representing the woman.
Instead, his client was handcuffed and detained, he said.
Shamieh says he got the call regarding her arrest just three hours after his wife gave birth to their third child.
Since he was in the hospital, Kate Ruston, another attorney in Shamieh’s office went to 630 Sansome St., the immigration court in downtown San Francisco, to try and speak to the woman.
Ruston received conflicting information. She was first told she could get access the woman, and then she was denied access. Finally, Ruston was told her client would be transported to a San Francisco holding facility due to medical conditions. None of this proved true.
It is common for detained individuals to get “lost” in the system, with attorneys, friends and family members often struggling to locate them, and receiving misleading and contradictory information.
Shamieh’s office worked swiftly to file a habeas corpus petition and a temporary restraining order to release the woman. Around 6:30 p.m., an immigration judge ordered her release.
“I do have an incredible team that did a lot of the heavy lifting,” Shamieah said, speaking on the phone from the hospital.
As of around 7 p.m. on Friday, the woman remained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on the way to California City. Her attorney worked with officials to find out where her family and friends could pick her up.
Later that night, the nanny was released from ICE custody, her attorney said.
Mayor Daniel Lurie, earlier in the day, wrote in a statement that his office was “aware of the immigration enforcement action in Diamond Heights earlier today,” and that San Francisco police officers were “not involved” in accordance with the city’s sanctuary policies.
But the city’s sanctuary policies do not prevent federal immigration agents from conducting enforcement within city limits.
“I am in touch with the Rapid Response Network and community organizations to ensure communities continue to receive accurate information,” Lurie said. “We are not aware of any other immigration enforcement action in the city today. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and remain committed to upholding the values and laws of our city.”
ICE did not respond to requests for comment or verification of the arrest. ICE enforcement in San Francisco has centered on the immigration courthouses downtown, where asylum-seekers were, until recently, routinely arrested after court hearings and check-ins.
There have been only a handful of arrests in neighborhoods around San Francisco, and it is unclear whether this arrest signals a change in strategy by federal immigration officials.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents Diamond Heights, where the woman was arrested, urged caution in reacting to the news.
Attorneys say the arrest may also raise potential legal violations under Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, a federal class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of courthouse arrests and prolonged detention. In January, a judge denied the government’s request to stay an injunction against that policy.
A neighbor in Diamond Heights has created an online fundraiser to raise money for her living expenses and legal costs.
“She has been a steady and beloved part of our community for a long time. She now needs support as she navigates the legal and emotional challenges ahead,” wrote the Diamond Heights Neighbors. As of Tuesday afternoon, almost $8,000 had been raised.
You can find a link to the fundraiser here.
This piece was updated on Feb. 17 with news of the 66-year-old woman’s release.
Why would Rafael Mandelman urge caution in reacting to the news?
Portraits in courage.
Lurie is too busy courting money for downtown and easing the construction of luxury housing to bother with civil rights violations of SF citizens and decent treatment of teachers. Nice guy tho.
I am VERY DISAPPOINTED of the mayor’s response or lack of one. Those actions are true MAGA.
This is an important story and I thank you for running it. But why was it necessary to refer, in the headline as well as the body of the article, to the person who was detained as an “elderly nanny?” I find this ageist and sexist. It would work well to describe her as a 66 year old woman, to mention that she works as a nanny or that she provides childcare, and to let the readers decide for themselves whether she is best described as elderly.
Obviously she was MS16 or a crip or whatever the right needs to justify the level of abuse and national embarrassment