{"id":74196,"date":"2025-07-17T12:34:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74196"},"modified":"2025-07-28T12:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T19:35:32","slug":"san-francisco-protestors-slam-mayor-for-tepid-response-to-ice-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74196","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Protestors Slam Mayor for Tepid Response to ICE Raids"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Christopher Alam<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Several dozen protestors turned out in front of immigration offices in the city on July 14. (Credit: Chris Alam)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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SAN FRANCISCO\u2014Weekly protests outside the immigration court in downtown San Francisco are picking up steam.\u00a0The protests come as pressure builds on San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to take a more forceful stand against federal immigration raids in the city.<\/p>\n

At the center of the debate is a dispute over the role of the SFPD in policing protests while protecting federal immigration agents in a city that celebrates its sanctuary status.<\/p>\n

Around 60 protesters staked out on the sidewalk all day Tuesday, most wearing keffiyehs\u2014the black and white cloth typically associated with the movement for Palestine\u2014and handing out pamphlets detailing immigrants\u2019 rights and resources. Several stood watch outside the loading bay around the side of the building on Sutter Street.<\/p>\n

The group is a decentralized coalition of individual activists, but larger organizations like Food Not Bombs SF, Mission Defense, and Democratic Socialists of America\u00a0promoted the action.<\/a><\/p>\n

Their intention is to resist any federal immigration agents coming to arrest immigrants at their court hearings. It follows a confrontation on July 8th at the same spot, where a small group of protestors resisted ICE agents as they attempted to arrest a young immigrant man. ICE agents drove an SUV into the crowd, injuring one woman thrown from the hood, narrowly avoiding running her over.<\/p>\n

One protestor who goes by Cebollin and who identified himself as a spokesperson for the group decried the ICE raids targeting immigrants who are actively abiding by legal requirements to appear at court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are doing everything right to have a pathway to citizenship, that\u2019s why it\u2019s frustrating and scary that ICE is coming here and abducting them outside the courthouse,\u201d said Cebollin. \u201cIt shows how cowardly ICE is.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE has been routinely arresting asylum seekers following their immigration hearings. The anti-ICE protesters, who had been demonstrating outside the immigration court every Tuesday for several weeks now, numbered about 20 that day. This week, the group on the corner of Montgomery and Sutter streets tripled in size.<\/p>\n

Many there said they came directly in response to the recent violent clashes.<\/p>\n

Cebollin said the group is disappointed in city leadership for their reaction to last week\u2019s ICE confrontation, especially Mayor Lurie.<\/p>\n

\u201cShouldn\u2019t SFPD be protecting us? Shouldn\u2019t they be protecting the immigrants being abducted? It\u2019s humiliating to see Daniel Lurie, or the city government as a whole not have a solid position on ICE or really talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor has been criticized for his overall response to ICE raids in San Francisco \u2013 specifically for having no response or statement at all, in contrast to Los Angeles, where LAPD issued\u00a0public guidelines<\/a>\u00a0on how it planned to engage with ICE agents and where LA Mayor Karen Bass publicly confronted agents during recent raids in the city.<\/p>\n

On July 9th, two days after the woman was flung from the ICE SUV, Lurie\u00a0posted a video to Instagram\u00a0<\/a>promoting a new Popmart store in Union Square, the retailer of trendy Labubu dolls. The timing of the announcement was panned, with nearly every comment under the post questioning Lurie over the ICE raids.<\/p>\n

Speaking on KRON4<\/a>\u00a0News on the same day, Lurie said he is increasing funding to immigrant legal defense support in his new budget bill and connecting to community organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe immigrant community has an ally in me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The SF Board of Supervisors on July 16 approved Lurie\u2019s $15.9 billion budget which includes a 3% boost to SFPD even as it makes steep cuts to a range of community services as the city grapples with a $782 million deficit.<\/p>\n

District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder was the only \u201cno\u201d vote on the budget, calling parts of it \u201cindefensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a moment when Trump is pledging mass deportations, this city has chosen to flatline legal defense funding. Staff are already being laid off. Families are already being left defenseless,\u201d she said before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday prior to the vote.<\/p>\n

Nearby San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have increased legal defense funding to $5 million, she noted.<\/p>\n

On July 14th, Fielder sent a letter to Interim Police Chief Paul Yep, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, Mayor Daniel Lurie and Controller Greg Wagner, demanding answers about the handling of recent anti-ICE protests and SFPD collaboration in violation of sanctuary laws. As of the 17th, they have not provided a response.<\/p>\n

That follows criticism by Anti-ICE demonstrators and city residents over SFPD\u2019s lack of intervention on the public\u2019s behalf. Witnesses shared that SFPD openly assisted ICE in pushing people aside during the SUV ramming incident.<\/p>\n

A recent report<\/a>\u00a0by the SF Standard revealed that both SFPD and Oakland Police also appear to have repeatedly broken state law by handing over data from automated license plate readers to federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a town hall meeting on July 10th, SFPD Deputy Chief Derrick Lew told attendees that the police department needs to be \u201cpeacekeepers\u201d between ICE and protestors, seemingly equating the threat posed to each other.<\/p>\n

Lew said they do not want residents to have force used against them but, \u201con the other side of the coin \u2026 we can\u2019t just sit by and watch our fellow law enforcement agent or officer get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under San Francisco\u2019s 1989\u00a0sanctuary ordinance<\/a>, all city employees, including police officers, are prohibited from assisting ICE. The police department\u2019s policies specifically prohibit officers supporting \u201croutine ICE\/CBP operations, investigations, or raids.\u201d They can only respond when it \u201cappears reasonably necessary to prevent serious injury to persons, whether or not a criminal offense is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

No confrontations took place this Tuesday, with neither ICE nor SFPD making a presence, but the protestors said they are prepared to block agents again.<\/p>\n

ACoM reached out to both ICE and Mayor Lurie\u2019s office for comment. Neither replied before publishing time.<\/p>\n

This story has been updated with comments from Supervisor Jackie Fielder\u2019s office.<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris Alam is a\u00a0California Local News Fellow<\/a>\u00a0with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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