Arrests at immigration check-ins, which were effectively paused for about a month and a half, have resumed in San Francisco, according to at least three immigration attorneys who spoke to Mission Local.
Hundreds of immigrants were arrested at check-ins between January 20th and October 15 of last year before they came to a halt at the end of December. Although these arrests have not resumed at as high a level as before, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is again starting to arrest immigrants at their appointments.
ICE check-ins are required appointments for immigrants seeking legal status. They are typically scheduled once or twice a year.
Since President Trump took office in January, however, immigrants in San Francisco told Mission Local that the frequency has increased to sometimes every three months. Many immigrants are arrested and detained at those appointments.
Those arrested at ICE check-ins and elsewhere both in Northern California and nationwide often have no criminal history. Many have lived in the United States for decades. Once in ICE custody, they are often pressured by immigration agents into giving up on their immigration cases and returning to their home countries, according to court filings reviewed by Mission Local.
Arrests at San Francisco ICE check-ins have occurred on rare occasions for years but historically, many immigrants have lived with orders of deportation as they went through the legal process.
In S.F. check-in arrests ramped up in June 2025 along with arrests of immigrants at court. Then, in December, they slowed, a change that immigration attorneys said was likely linked to lawsuits challenging ICE practices.
One of those cases, Pablo Sequen, et al. v. Albarran, et al., argued that detention conditions on the sixth floor of the 630 Sansome St. ICE headquarters were “inhumane” and inadequate for long-term stays. ICE had been keeping immigrants in holding cells for longer and longer stretches of time, sometimes more than three days, without adequate food, clothing, or medication, attorneys argued.
In November a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in the case that temporarily halted arrests at immigration courts in the city. Though the order did not prevent ICE from arresting immigrants at their check-ins, it did challenge the conditions inside the temporary holding cells and prevented arrests outside of courtrooms.
The recent resumption of arrests at ICE check-ins could indicate that, in the agency’s opinion, it is legally safe to begin detaining immigrants again, Atkinson said.
“They are saying that they are complying with the order, providing the blankets, food and water,” she explained. She said her team will continue monitoring any possible violations.
The majority of ICE check-ins take place at 630 Sansome, one of two immigration courts in downtown San Francisco, where immigrants line up early and wait in line, often for hours, before being brought inside the building. Arrests at check-ins and other immigration interviews, like green-card appointments, occur outside of the public eye. They have been much less scrutinized by the public and media than courthouse arrests, which often take place in public courthouse hallways.
There also continue to be occasional ICE arrests in communities across the Bay Area. Last month, an elderly nanny was arrested outside of her workplace in Diamond Heights.
For many arrested by ICE in the Bay Area, including those arrested at ICE check-ins, immigration attorneys have been rapidly filing habeas corpus petitions to get them released from detention. Those petitions have proven hugely effective, attorneys say.
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