“As an adjudicated insurrectionist, Trump is an illegitimate president according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and therefore every official act as president will be illegitimate.”
–Mike Zonta, co-editor of OccupySF.net
The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
As of Saturday, September 27, 2025, Portland, Oregon, is dominated by the news that former President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of federal troops to the city
. Local leaders have spoken out against the move, and the presence of federal agents has been increasing.
Federal troop deployment
Trump’s announcement: Multiple news outlets reported that Trump confirmed via Truth Social and in other statements that he ordered military troops to Portland. The reason given was to “protect war ravaged Portland” and to quell protests.
Local leaders respond: In response, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, and other local leaders held a press conference to address the situation.
Wilson stated that the federal presence was unrequested and without purpose.
Leaders have urged the community to remain peaceful amidst the increased federal presence.
Context for the order: The deployment follows reports of an increase in federal agents at the ICE facility in South Portland and Trump’s prior threats to send federal forces to the city.
Other recent news and events
Local crime: Rapper Ice Cube’s tour bus caught fire in downtown Portland, prompting an investigation.
Population and homelessness:
Portland recorded a razor-thin population increase in 2024, the first growth since 2020. However, the city’s downtown area continues to face challenges with post-pandemic economic recovery.
Portland’s homelessness crisis persists, largely attributed to the housing and rental market. Rents have risen significantly since 2021, and city officials are working on solutions.
Dysentery cases were on the rise in Multnomah County earlier in the year.
Earthquake concerns: Scientists believe Oregon is overdue for a mega-earthquake from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which would devastate Portland.
Upcoming events: For those seeking weekend plans, a number of events are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, including live music shows and the Lents International Farmers Market.
Because of the willful ignorance of psychopath Trump, or maybe because he just isn’t smart enough to understand the science, Trump is doing everything he can to keep America dependent on coal and oil. It is going to affect the entire planet, and as it goes on, the reputation of the United States will severely decline. This also means the United States is going to be one of the most severely impacted nations in the developed world as climate change proceeds. Meanwhile, the Chinese have announced that they are going to transition out of carbon energy and help other nations in their own process. Increasingly, I see China becoming the leading nation in the world.
President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations to boast of his foreign policy record, inflating his role at times, and lash out at the world body. He warned Europe it faces ruin from “double-tailed monster” policies on migration and green energy
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Some countries’ leaders are watching rising seas threaten to swallow their homes. Others are watching their citizens die in floods, hurricanes and heat waves, all exacerbated by climate change.
But the world U.S. President Donald Trump described in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday didn’t match the one many world leaders in the audience are contending with. Nor did it align with what scientists have long been observing.
“This ‘climate change,’ it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” Trump said. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same […]
A senior Justice Department investigator who says he interviewed victims in the government’s Jeffrey Epstein case was caught on camera claiming that President Donald Trump is shielding others implicated in the case files.
The hidden-camera tape, which was released on Wednesday, was published by MAGA provocateur James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, which has previously been accused of publishing deceptively edited videos.
The video appears to capture Glenn Prager, a career federal official, making bombshell claims during a flight from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., earlier this month, where he was recorded by a reporter working for O’Keefe—who was forced out of Project Veritas in a MAGA civil war.
Prager’s LinkedIn profile states that he has more than 25 years of experience in government oversight, investigations, and program integrity. His public service includes roles within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“During his tenure at DOJ, Mr. Prager served as an Inspector overseeing sensitive investigations involving major DOJ components, including the FBI, DEA, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals Service, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices,” his profile reads.
Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump spent years running in the same social circles.Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
In the video, Prager claims that he has reviewed Epstein’s itineraries and interviewed his victims, none of whom have implicated Trump in the sex offender’s crimes.
“I’ve interviewed all the victims,” he said. “There’s never been an instance where Trump was on a plane with these kids and the rapes occurred.”
“People want to tie it to [Trump] and say he’s covering up for himself, but he’s not,” said Prager.
However, Prager believes the president is clearly “protecting a lot of people” in his ongoing attempts to pull MAGA’s attention away from the Epstein files—despite promising to release the files during his re-election bid.
“I don’t know what’s new that I have never seen,” Prager said. “He’s so hesitant to show what’s going on with releasing all his files. I think he’s protecting a lot of other people.”
Trump has insisted that he and Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan holding cell in 2019, were never close friends, repeating several times that he distanced himself from the late financier after he was put on the sex offender list in 2008, shortly after he pleaded guilty to a charge of solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
He’s also continuously referred to the Epstein issue as a “hoax,” and claims any sensitive information in the files would have been revealed by Democrats long ago.
Donald Trump is known to have long been friends with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
Prager is bothered by Trump’s characterization of the scandal. “I mean, come on,” he said. “You know it’s not a hoax… He says a lot of stupid stuff. He’s been on the plane, now, many times. It’s just, he was never on the plane with the kids.”
According to Prager, the same could not be said for former President Bill Clinton.
“While Bill Clinton was on [Epstein’s] plane, there were rapes that occurred,” Prager said, adding: “And that’s where the big cover-up was.”
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein and Bill ClintonRalph Alswang
Prager also claimed that it will soon be public knowledge that Epstein “was a CIA informant.”
In response to a request for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to the Department of Justice. The DOJ did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
In a statement to O’Keefe, a DOJ spokesperson said of Prager: “This individual [Glenn Prager] worked at the Department of Justice as a program analyst over 15 years ago. He has no understanding of, or access to, the underlying facts in this investigation. His statements should not be considered accurate. It is disgusting that someone would further exploit victims of sexual abuse by fabricating stories for their personal benefit.”
A spokesperson repeated the same sentiments in a post on X.
O’Keefe’s video has quickly spread online, racking up more than 4 million views on X in less than six hours and prompting responses from officials.
“Senior DOJ Investigator who says he interviewed victims for the government’s Epstein case spills the beans on a hidden camera,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie wrote in a post on X.
I’ve got some incredible news: We just released a poll showing that 69% of San Francisco voters don’t want Pelosi to run again, including 62% of those who voted for her in the past. 84% said it’s time for a new generation of Democratic leaders. After hearing positive and balanced bios of Pelosi and me, I am beating Pelosi by 6%!
Take it from me: I understand losses. I am a longtime Democratic consultant who has been pivotal in the losses of at least 27 Democratic campaigns. I am, by all accounts, a loser.
One time, however, I did win. That person is no longer in office and does not answer my calls, but I still won. That gives me the credibility, knowledge, and expertise to explain that the imminent victory of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race would be a dangerous loss for Democrats in the long run.
Political novices put far too much value on winning. Think about a game of basketball against your eight-year-old son. You may have scored more points, but now his feelings are hurt. Wouldn’t it have been better to simply let him win? The same thing goes for the Democratic Party. When progressives like Mamdani are too focused on winning, they don’t consider the feelings of more-established candidates who deserve to win because they want to. Or because it’s “their turn.” Or their dying wish.
As someone who won one time, I can tell you winning is often not worth it.
Let’s imagine that Zohran Mamdani does win, with a coalition of multi-class young people, immigrants, unions, renters, faith leaders, and pansexual mustache men. What does that mean for the losers? The investment bankers, the landlords, and the Wall Street guys who ask women on the street if “they’re sisters or something”? Was winning worth their tears?
As someone who won one time, I can tell you winning is often not worth it. You know what happens after you win? Governing. You know how hard that is? Who wants that kind of responsibility? Making people’s lives better by advancing policies? Responsibility is incredibly stressful.
Should Mamdani win and begin to deliver on some of his campaign promises like free buses, city-run grocery stores, or a rent freeze, it will certainly be a slippery slope. Giving Democratic voters what they want is just like the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Whenever the mouse gets something, it only wants more and more, until the point where it is well-fed, well-rested, and happy. It’s a primrose path that will ultimately accustom Democratic voters to creature comforts like health care or education. As I’ve always told my clients, instead of giving a mouse a cookie, we should give him the ability to qualify for one chocolate chip, provided he completes a three-year apprenticeship program in an underserved neighborhood, and as long as his income doesn’t exceed $50,000 a year.
Let’s talk about the kind of candidate Democrats should win with. Mamdani is a telegenic, intelligent guy with real convictions. If he wins, what will that mean for the average, boring Democratic legislators and candidates who pride themselves on receiving all their beliefs from polls and the crypto industry? In a way, Mamdani winning is an ableist erasure of candidates incapable of believing in anything at all. Our big-tent party must make space inside for those who are dead inside.
Finally, winning just isn’t who Democrats are. This rebrand might take voters aback and give them pause before hitting Donate on their next URGENT, ALL HANDS ON DECK, WE’RE DOOMED fundraising email.
None of this is to say that winning isn’t important. It is. And Democrats will eventually win again. But we must manage how, when, why, where, and with the support of what billionaires this win happens. I live by the old Democratic Party adage, passed down by generations of neoliberals: Only after everything has been lost is it time to win. So let’s be patient, shall we?
A federal agent restrains the wife of the detained man from Ecuador on September 25, 2025, in New York City.
(Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
“Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too,” said Monica Moreta-Galarza. “I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me.”
In the latest display of brutality by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a video that has gone viral on social media shows a plainclothes ICE agent hurling an Ecuadorian asylum-seeker, Monica Moreta-Galarza, to the ground at an immigration courthouse in New York City following the arrest of her husband in front of their two children.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agent has been relieved of his duties while his conduct is investigated.
The incident was captured by multiple reporters on the scene Thursday. A video posted by Elaad Eliahu of the conservative Timcast News network shows Moreta-Galarza’s husband—who had appeared for a court hearing with his family as part of their legal application for asylum—being wrestled away from his family by several masked agents as he attempts to cling to them. After ripping him away, three agents are shown dragging him out the door.
In another video, Moreta-Galarza is seen tearfully pleading in Spanish with one of the ICE agents, who is wearing a blue flannel shirt, a baseball cap, and no mask. He is shown repeatedly shouting “adios” at her, telling her to leave. When she moves toward him, he quickly grabs her and flings her across the room, through a crowd of photographers, and into the opposite wall. He then grabs her again and pushes her to the ground.
After she rises to her feet, the agent shoves Moreta-Galarza into the arms of security guards who escort her from the building.
Though Eliahu’s post described the man arrested as an “illegal alien,” ProPublica‘s Till Eckert, who was at the scene and spoke with Moreta-Galarza after the fact, reported that she “was seeking asylum with her family,” which is legal under US law.
The incident occurred at 26 Federal Plaza, a federal building that houses an immigration courthouse and a makeshift detention facility in which migrants have been shown to be living in wretched conditions recently. Last week, over 70 demonstrators, including several state lawmakers, were arrested during a protest at the facility.
“For the past two weeks, I’ve been going to the same New York City immigration courthouse,” Eckert said. “Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.”
Eckert reported that Moreta-Galarza’s injuries from the encounter required her to go to the hospital, where she has since been discharged.
The arrest is part of an increasing trend under the second Trump administration of immigrants being detained, often violently, while attempting to follow the legal process by appearing in court for immigration hearings.
As Statelinereported in August, ICE has increasingly been using a new, “unexpected legal tactic” to lure immigrants: “Rather than pursue a deportation case, it is convincing judges to dismiss immigrants’ cases—thus depriving the immigrants of protection from arrest and detention—then taking them into custody.” While some are undocumented entrants, many of those snatched up in these courthouse arrests are legal applicants for asylum.
Eckert explained that “these sorts of actions were outside the norm historically for ICE agents.”
“Yet under Trump’s second term, immigration courts have shifted from being seen as relatively safe venues into places where immigrants face the risk of surveillance, arrest, and sometimes even violence,” he said.
While the Trump administration often describes those arrested by ICE as “the worst of the worst,” immigration data as of September 7 showed just over 70% of those currently detained have no criminal convictions. On Friday, The Guardianreported that a plurality of people currently in ICE custody have not even been charged with crimes.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said that Moreta-Galarza “fled to my office for safety after she was assaulted by this [ICE] agent in an egregious act of excessive force.”
In a recorded interview after the incident, Goldman said his office would “continue to follow this particular story because it is just one example of too many where we have these secret police officers who are attacking our communities with excessive violence, excessive force, and they just think that they can do it with impunity because nobody is holding them accountable.”
Social media users later identified another video outside the same court in August, which appeared to show the same ICE agent forcibly prying a crying young girl away from her father as he is arrested and his family watched in tears.
I’m Till Eckert, a ProPublica reporter. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been going to the same NY immigration courthouse.
Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.
In a statement provided to CBS News on Friday, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, called the agent’s conduct toward Moreta-Galarza “unacceptable.”
“Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards and this officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation,” she said.
New York City comptroller Brad Lander, who has been arrested twice at the facility—once in June while escorting an immigrant out of his court hearing and again last week while protesting the facility—expressed outrage at the treatment of Moreta-Galarza and her family.
“An ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital,” Lander said. “Seconds earlier, her husband had been abducted by masked ICE agents who did not identify themselves, did not present a warrant, did not give any lawful grounds for his detention.”
“Every day, masked ICE agents are acting violently against our neighbors, illegally abducting them, holding them in cruel and inhumane conditions. Treating them as less-than-human and not deserving due process,” Lander continued. “We will not stop bearing witness, stop condemning them, or stop doing all we can to stand up to this lawless behavior.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, called the agent’s behavior “sickening,” and said, “the fact that Mayor [Eric] Adams has rolled out the red carpet for ICE is a stain on our city.”
I’m Till Eckert, a ProPublica reporter. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been going to the same NY immigration courthouse.
Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.
After being discharged from the hospital, Moreta-Galarza spoke about her experience to reporters.
“Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too,” she said in Spanish. “I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me.”
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old with no criminal record, said she was only given ice to take her medications and was denied meals in accordance with her religious beliefs.
Harjit Kaur, 73, left, was deported to India on Sept. 22. She described experiencing harrowing conditions during her 15-day detainment by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Right, an ICE agent. Credit: Courtesy of the Kaur family; AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura
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Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old East Bay woman who was detained for 15 days by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a routine check-in was deported to her home country of India this week. She had been living and working legally in the United States for more than three decades and had no criminal history.
Kaur, who came to the Bay Area as a single mother in 1991, lived in Hercules, regularly attended the El Sobrante Sikh Gurdwara and worked for two decades as a seamstress at Sari Palace in Berkeley.
Kaur, a grandmother of five, was denied asylum and tried to appeal several times. When her appeal was denied at the federal appeals court, she was willing to self deport but in 13 years was never given travel documents from the Indian Consulate, her family said.
Every roughly six months, Kaur “faithfully” visited the ICE field office in San Francisco to check in, her family said. Her work permit was renewed annually while ICE officials tried to secure the documents she needed to go to India.
So, on Sept. 8, her arrest at one of those check-ins shocked her family and the wider community, which held a rally on Sept. 12 in El Sobrante to show their support for her.
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About 200 people protested in El Sobrante Sept. 12 to demand the release of Harjit Kaur from ICE detention. On Mon., Sept. 22, she was deported to India after living in the United States for 33 years. Credit: Richmondside
On Sept. 9, Kaur was taken to the Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield. She was then moved to a detention center in Lumpkin, GA., on Sept. 20 and ultimately deported without any notice on Monday.
“Around 2 a.m., without notifying the attorney, without any advance notice to anybody, [ICE] took her from Bakersfield, drove her to LA while in handcuffs yet again, and put her on a flight to Georgia,” her Fresno-based attorney Deepak Ahluwalia said in a video he shared on social media.
Ahluwalia said at one point no one knew her location for more than 24 hours. She was able to call her family Sunday.
“I’ve been to Lumpkin, and it’s as remote as remote can be,” Ahluwalia said, referring to Kaur as “Bibiji,” a Punjabi term of respect. “And (when) she had called us, she was not able to tell us herself where she actually was.”
Denied toilet paper, slept on the floor
What Kaur did share was that she was held in cells without a bed or a chair for hours and made to sleep on the floor. She was refused vegetarian meals in accordance with her religious beliefs — she is Sikh — during the first six days of detention and was only provided with her medicine several days into detention.
“When she asked to have [food] or even water to take with her medication, she was given a plate of ice,” Ahluwalia said. “She explained she had dentures and she couldn’t eat it. The guard told her, ‘That’s your fault.’ ”
Deepak Ahluwalia, Harjit Kaur’s attorney, said that she was denied food and water to take with her medications. Credit: Courtesy of Deepak Ahluwalia
Ahluwalia noted that two individuals tried to meet Kaur at the detention center on Sunday when they learned where she was, but ICE denied the visit.
Kaur also wasn’t given access to basic hygiene supplies such as toilet paper and wasn’t allowed to shower. When she was about to board her ICE chartered flight to India on Mondays he was given wet wipes to clean herself, Ahluwalia said.
He said the family was willing to comply with the deportation but only had two requests: Kaur be released (with an ankle monitor) for 24 to 48 hours to tie up any loose ends and/or that she be allowed to fly on a commercial plane and be accompanied by a member of her family due to her age and medical conditions.
Her family even purchased a plane ticket to India for her while she was detained in Bakersfield, Ahluwalia said, but those requests went ignored. He said ICE eventually responded to his multiple requests, saying the family could visit her on Tuesday — the day after she was deported.
The attorney also noted that he is filing a complaint regarding the conditions of Kaur’s detention.
“Some might call (what I’m saying to be) ICE bashing. Some might call it, you know, obviously speaking out. But at the end of the day, I’m speaking facts,” Aluwalia said. “I’m telling you, matter of fact, what took place.”
ICE claims Kaur a “waste” of tax dollars
In an emailed statement to Richmondside, which misspelled her name and called her an illegal alien, an ICE official said Kaur litigated her case for more than 34 years and was ordered to leave the country an immigration judge in 2005, so “to say her arrest by ICE is somehow unjust or lacking in due process is absurd.”
Kaur “filed multiple appeals all the way up to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and LOST each time,” the statement says. “Now that she has exhausted all legal remedies, ICE is stepping in to enforce the law and orders by the judge; she will not waste any more U.S. tax dollars.”
An email from ICE to Richmondside defended the deportation of Harjit Kaur to India. Credit: Richmondside
Ahluwalia pushed back on the notion of Kaur wasting tax dollars.
“This is how a 73-year-old grandmother was treated with no criminal record … she worked, she contributed to the U.S. taxpayer system and didn’t live off social security or any other sort of benefits,” Ahluwalia emphasized. “And everyone can keep saying she had a final order removal and she was asked to leave. Correct — she was asked to leave, and she was complying.”
Kaur’s case drew attention due to her particular circumstance, but she is one of thousands who have been detained by ICE this year alone.
As of Sept. 7, ICE held 58,766 individuals in detention facilities, according to TRAC reports. Of those currently detained, 70.8% do not have a criminal conviction. Many of those who do were convicted of minor offenses, including traffic violations.
The number of ICE detentions and deportations have skyrocketed since President Donald Trump’s reelection. The president has repeatedly said he wants to crackdown on illegal immigration, focusing on getting rid of criminals, and has increased ICE’s budget — making it the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency.
But data from the Cato Institute found that more than 93% of detainees from the 2025 fiscal year (October 2024 to June 2025) were not convicted of any violent offenses. And of the 204,297 people detained by ICE in that period, 65% had no convictions at all. Most convictions fell into three main categories: immigration, traffic, or nonviolent vice crimes.
Kaur’s granddaughter Sukhmeet Sandhu took to social media this week to thank everyone “from the bottom of my heart for standing with us.” She said her grandmother’s detention was very difficult for the family and her safe deportation was only possible because of the advocacy from the community.
“While we are thankful for her safe return, it’s important to remember the many other innocent individuals who remain detained for months or even years,” Sukhmeet Kaur wrote. “Please continue to raise your voices and fight for them the same way you stood with our grandmother.”
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Jana Kadah covers Richmond schools and youth issues, Contra Costa College, the county Board of Education and other general topics for Richmondside.More by Jana Kadah
An immigration line forms in front of the 630 Sansome St. immigration court on Sept. 18 of 2025. Photo by Sage Rios Mace.
District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder walked out of the elevator on the sixth floor at 630 Sansome St. on Thursday morning and through the security checkpoint to become the first San Francisco supervisor to visit the immigrant detention facility since the Trump administration began its immigration crackdown this year.
The inside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters, where immigrants are processed after being arrested across Northern California, including from the courtrooms below, was nearly empty. The only visible ICE official was sitting behind the front desk.
ICE began routinely detaining asylum-seekers on the sixth floor in June and Fielder has long decried the arrests. On Thursday, she was joined by Jennifer Friedman, a San Francisco deputy public defender; Milli Atkinson, director of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s immigration team; and three journalists (including Mission Local).
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All visited one of the waiting rooms, a small, grey and barren space, with a low-hanging ceiling. It was split by a glass divider. Telephones hung on the wall. On the attorney’s side of the glass divider were two metal stools bolted to the floor. The rooms are designed to accommodate four attorneys and four clients.
But that many people are hardly ever in there, Friedman said. Moreover, she said, some of the telephones do not work.
Fielder was allowed to walk unaccompanied into the waiting rooms, but ICE officials did not allow her inside the actual detention area.
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a lawsuit alleging that some detainees have been held on the sixth floor for as long as six days at a time without access to adequate hygiene, medical attention or sleeping facilities. Conditions, they allege, are “punitive and inhumane.”
The ACLU also alleged that ICE forced asylum-seekers to pay for phone calls with “poor audio quality.”
Fielder said she is “concerned” about detention conditions and pledged to advocate for more funding towards immigration services. She also pointed out that Mayor Daniel Lurie’s newest fund for immigration — which is aimed to support the family members of those detained — is “set up for emergency purposes.”
More money, she said, is needed to strengthen immigration services at large.
Friedman said that ICE only lets people from one detention area into the waiting room at a time. If a detainee from the women’s section is using the room to consult with her attorney, no one from the men’s detention area is allowed in until they are finished — and vice versa.
Oftentimes, pro-bono attorneys arrive ready to meet with clients, but can’t because of this rule. Friedman said, “Sometimes we have more lawyers than those able to meet.”
In detention cases, time and efficiency is everything, according to Friedman. Attorneys are currently trying to meet with clients while juggling an unprecedented number of cases. “There is a real capacity need here and we’ve been scrambling to meet it,” Friedman said.
The legal aid provided by the Bar Association, said Atkinson, is incredibly cost-effective: Dozens of habeas corpus petitions have been filed since August to release asylum-seekers from detention, says Atkinson. All of them have been successful.
But, Atkinson said, each habeas petition normally requires a team of four to five to file the petition and to follow a case to its end. Due to the high volume, volunteer attorneys are taking on multiple cases. “One attorney did four or five petitions back-to-back” Atkinson said, —but it was too much to sustain. “She had to tap out.”
“Lawyers are incredibly overwhelmed,” Fielder said. “A lot of them are burnt out.” Atkinson agreed. “It’s not sustainable.”
Earlier that day, before the group entered the sixth floor, Fielder told Mission Local: “I hope the board can provide more funding for the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative.” She added that the “attorney of the day program is extremely underfunded.”
Only moments before, Fielder saw the couple who would be sent into detention. She sat in Judge Patrick S. O’Brien’s courtroom as an immigration hearing unfolded and watched an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security move to dismiss their cases. O’Brien instead scheduled their next hearing.
But as often happens, O’Brien’s attempts to allow for due process were ignored. Two ICE officers, wearing surgical masks, waited outside. They handcuffed the pair, as they often do, while a third officer without a mask read aloud their rights. The woman, seemingly in her early 20s, began to silently cry.
The supervisor departed before the second hearing at 10:30 a.m. when two more men were arrested despite the judge scheduling their next hearings.
As the two men stepped outside the courtroom, ICE agents handcuffed them before escorting them out of eyesight and up to the sixth floor.
Help us cover ICE in San Francisco
Mission Local has been covering immigration enforcement in San Francisco day in and day out — on the streets and in the courts.
As the Trump administration invests $170 billion in ICE, we want to make an investment of our own: $300,000 — $100,000 a year for Trump’s remaining three years — to hire a full-time immigration reporter.
I’m covering immigration for Mission Local and got my start in journalism with El Tecolote. Most recently, I completed a long-term investigation for El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in San Juan, PR and I am excited to see where journalism takes me next. Off the clock, I can be found rollerblading through Golden Gate Park or reading under the trees with my cat, Mano.More by Sage Ríos Mace
The most recent contract between the UC and the University Professional and Technical Employees expired in Oct. 2024.Ethan Mauk | Senior Staff
The University Professional and Technical Employees, or UPTE, which represents 22,000 healthcare, technical and research professionals across the UC system, has opened a strike vote in response to the UC’s practices during contract negotiation.
The most recent contract between the UC and UPTE expired in Oct. 2024. The two parties have been negotiating new contracts since June 2024.
According to the UPTE website, UPTE members’ working conditions and wages have fallen behind that of other workers since the university’s COVID-19 hiring freeze.
At the only bird flu testing lab for farms in the state — which is staffed by UPTE members — just two out of seven individuals on staff were present most of the year, according to campus Staff Research Associate 2 Jamie Gardner. The two staff members “kept the lab running by themselves for months and months,” Gardner said.
UPTE president and campus Business Technical Support Analyst 3 Dan Russell alleged that the UC system has not been bargaining in good faith. He said at the bargaining table that the university “doesn’t really engage with (UPTE’s) proposals … there’s not really a discussion or a back and forth conversation.”
In a Sept. 10 press release, the UC system announced its Last, Best and Final Offer, or LBFO, to UPTE.
The offer includes a 5% pay increase in the first year of the contract, along with “protections against rising health care costs, and expanded workplace benefits” for UPTE-represented employees, according to a fact sheet on the LBFO released by the university. This is in light of significant financial uncertainty for the UC system that is caused by state and federal activities, according to the press release.
“Our Last, Best, and Final Offer to UPTE balances fairness, equity, and long-term sustainability while recognizing the financial pressures on the UC system,” said UC spokesperson Heather Hansen in an email. “While we recognize this does not solve every challenge around health care affordability (for UPTE-represented employees), it is a meaningful step forward that provides direct, tangible relief to those who need it most.”
Russell said UPTE has made it clear that they are not interested in meeting about the LBFO. He said he hopes the university will soon present a “more serious” offer so that a strike can be avoided.
Gardner said a lot of UPTE’s proposals are about quality of life and cost little or nothing. Some, he added, would even save the university money in the long run.
According to Russell, a majority yes vote would not immediately cause a strike to be declared, but it would authorize UPTE leadership to call one.
“We’ve made it clear to the university, both the bargaining team and publicly in our statements, that our goal is not to strike,” Russell said. “Our goal is to get a contract that will address the crisis of recruitment and retention.”
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