By Adrienne Fong

 Having trouble formatting today – hope everything comes through. Apologize for the lateness of post.

Not back posting on a regular basis.

RESOURCES:

 UPDATES WITH BAY RESISTANCE and get plugged to actions you can support, text “Resist” to 888-850-0928

GI HOTLINE (877) 477-4497

  – Share this number to people who know active duty service members

There are events listed on Indybay that might be of interest to you(many listings in the South, North & East Bays and beyond the bay area)

Please post your actions on Indybay: https://www.indybay.org/calendar/?page_id=12

See list of Calendar of Events on Palestine from AROC: https://www.araborganizing.org/events/ 

   If your post is about Palestine you can also list your action on the AROC calendar

Bay Area Progressive Action Calendar

  ATW Bay Area / NorCal — Action Together West

ARTICLES

A. Feds indentify two people shot in Portland – January 9, 2026

https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/01/09/feds-identify-two-people-shot-in-portland/

B. Names of people murdered by ICE in 2025 – January 9, 2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTS0pU3CLBi/

2 people have been murdered by ICE in 2026   

C. Despite Gaza ceasefire, war still deadly along Israel’s ‘Yellow Line’ – January 9, 2026

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/03/israel-yellow-line-gaza-ceasefire/

D. WATCH: Senate advances war powers resolution to limit Trump after Venezuela raid – January 8, 2026

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-senate-expected-to-vote-on-war-powers-resolution-to-limit-trump-after-venezuela-raid

  Vote was 52 – 47

  Legislation is back in the House of Rep.

E. Anthony Aguilar – former Green Beret & Whistleblower on American law enforcement agencies including ICE, Homeland Security – police have trained in Israel

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTQrq6kDOXr/?hl=en

F. The Empire’s Frontlines: Zionist Expansion in the Middle East – January 8, 2026

The Empire’s Frontlines: Zionist Expansion in the Middle East

G. We’re all terrorism suspects now. – January 8, 2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTRa4VJFNdX/

-Kim Iversen

H. Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt – January 8, 2026

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/08/after-border-patrol-clash-at-roosevelt-minneapolis-schools-cancel-classes

 I. Video Shows ICE Agent’s Fatal Shooting of Civilian in Minneapolis

Video Shows ICE Agent’s Fatal Shooting of Civilian in Minneapolis  

J. This Isn’t the First Killing by ICE – and It Won’t Be the Last

This Isn’t the First Killing by ICE — and It Won’t Be the Last

K. Greg Stoker – after ICE shoot / killed US citizen in Minneapolis  – January 7, 2026
“There’s no difference between domestic and foreign policy”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTOEsNrAWq7/

L. $1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Add $5.8 Trillion to Debt Over Decade

$1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Add $5.8 Trillion to Debt Over Decade-2026-01-07

M. From Palestine to Venezuela: Chevron Profits From U.S. Imperialism – January 6, 2025

From Palestine to Venezuela: Chevron Profits From U.S. Imperialism | USCPR  

–        See Event # 7

PETITIONS (4)

1.    Urge Senators and Members to Reject ICE Funding!

    SIGN: Urge Senators and Members to Reject ICE Funding! – Action Network

2.    Tell Congress to Subpoena Big Oil for Its Role in Trump’s Illegal War

  SIGN: Tell Congress to Subpoena Big Oil for Its Role in Trump’s Illegal War

3.    Tell Trump: Hands Off Greenland

  SIGN: Tell Trump: Hands Off Greenland! | MoveOn

4.       Demand Trump abandon his insane plans to annex Greenland!

  SIGN: actl.ink – Demand Trump abandon his insane plans to annex Greenland!    

EVENTS / ACTIONS

 Friday, – January 9 – Monday, January 12

Friday, January 9  

1.    Friday, 8:30am – 5:30pm, OPENING ARGUMENTS BEGIN: PACK THE COURT FOR THE STANFORD 11! (follow site for court updates)

Santa Clara Hall of Justice
Department 53
190–200 W. Hedding St
San Jose

The trial is expected to last up to six weeks. We will continue sharing key dates and updates so supporters can mobilize when it matters most. Come for one day or as many as you can! Every seat counts!

Jury selection is complete and opening arguments (trial) start this Friday.

Stanford and the prosecution have tried to silence these students at every step, even attempting to ban the word “genocide” from the courtroom. Now the Stanford 11 are being put on trial for standing in solidarity with Palestine.

Make sure to arrive early 8:30AM to hear announcements from Stanford 11 Defense committee. Announcements will be shared again when court breaks for lunch at 12PM.

This is the moment to show up. A packed courtroom sends a clear message: the Bay Area stands with the Stanford 11, no matter how hard the state tries to isolate, intimidate, and criminalize student resistance.  

Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTONiODEqlq/?img_index=1

2.   Friday, 12:00pm  – 1:00pm, Women in Black Berkeley, weekly vigil

Next to UC Berkeley
Bancroft & Telegraph Ave.
Berkeley 

Women in Black Berkeley has been standing at UC Berkeley since 1988. We dress in black, hold signs, and hand out material protesting the illegal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide by the Israeli military government that is done with the complicity of the United States. We engage with students that wish to converse, but do not respond to hecklers.
We invite you to join us every FRIDAY from 12PM – 1PM

For more information: https://womeninblack.org

Info: Women in Black Berkeley, weekly vigil : Indybay

3.   Friday 2:00pm – 4:00pm, SF: Justice for Renee Nicole Good

630 Sansome St.
SF

Renee Nicole Good was executed by an ICE agents in Minneapolis, MN, Less then a mile from where George Floyd was killed by killer cop Derek Chauvin in 2020. Renee was shot in the head multiple times while Legal Observing an ICE raid.

We stand with her family and friends, and all the people standing up for justice for Renee.

Take to the streets and the ICE field office to demand:

1) Release the name of the ICE pig who murdered Renee Nicole Good
2) Charge him with murder
3) Arrest all officers involved
4) All ICE pigs out of Minneapolis, the Bay, everywhere, “ICE OUT NOW!”

Host: Dare to Struggle Bay Area

Info: SF: Justice for Renee Nicole Good : Indybay  & https://www.instagram.com/p/DTPs9gBlEPB/?hl=en&img_index=1 

4.   Friday, 5:00pm – 6:00pm (PT); 8:00pm – 9:00pm (ET), ACLU: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training

Online training via ZOOM
Register here: https://act.aclu.org/a/aclukyr 

If you need accommodations to be able to fully participate in this event, please contact info [at] peoplepower.org

On Wednesday, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, an unarmed 37-year-old woman, in a south Minneapolis neighborhood. She leaves behind a 6-year-old son.

This weekend, people across the country are taking to the streets to demand accountability, honor Renee Good’s life, and make visible the human cost of ICE’s actions. Before you take action, learn your rights and how to stay safe and peaceful. Join the ACLU’s Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training on 1/9/26 at 5 PM PT.

This training will give you the tools to take action safely, confidently, and with key de-escalation strategies in hand. You’ll learn how to protect yourself, your community, and stand up for your rights.

What we’ll cover:

–Know your rights during protests and law enforcement encounters

–Practical tools for safety and de-escalation in tense moments

–Get prepared to take nonviolent action safely, powerfully and together

–Build the knowledge and strength to support others in the streets and beyond.

Because when we know our rights, we can defend them. Let’s get ready. RSVP NOW.

Info: ACLU: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights and De-Escalation Training : Indybay

Saturday, January 10 

5.   Saturday, 12Noon – 2:00pm, Trump Regime Takedown (every Saturday

  Combined with Ice Out For Good! Protest

corner of Van Ness and O’Farrell St,
San Francisco 

We mourn the death of Renee Good and vow to protect our communities against ICE. Join us to raise your voice against ICE and the MAGA regime and learn how you can protect your neighborhood.

Keep democracy alive every Saturday by showing up, taking a stand, and sticking together for the long haul. Standing together is better than standing alone. Let’s get together and call out the Trump/MAGA regime as a community. Plus, it’s fun! Think of it as our democracy corner—a place for you to voice your opinion, hang out with like-minded fellow protesters, and experience a cathartic moment together.

What you can do:

• If you’ve got signs, flags, cardboard cutouts, or any protest visuals you want to make, bring ’em! We also have spare signs to lend.
• If you have whistles, drums, cowbells, or other noisemakers, bring ’em!
• Musicians are welcome and encouraged. Sing the song of democracy!
• Many of our regular protesters are part of local activist groups who are happy to chat with anyone who wants to pair their indignation with direct action beyond street protest.

Host: Indivisible

Info: Ice Out For Good! Protest : Indybay & Trump Regime Takedown (every Saturday) : Indybay

6.    Saturday, 1:00pm, NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION JANUARY 10TH – FIGHT TRUMP’S WAR ON VZ AND STOP ICE TERROR

Meet at:

BART
24^th & Mission
SF

The Trump administration has kidnapped Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela, an absurd show of American imperialism in an attempt to steal Venezuela’s oil resources to enrich U.S. billionaires.

Meanwhile at home, ICE just murdered Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen who was legally observing their actions in Minneapolis, and shot two more people in Portland. This war on working people all over the world must end.

We are joining @demsocialists national day of action to say FIGHT TRUMP’S WAR ON VENEZUELA AND STOP ICE TERROR ACROSS THE U.S.

Host: PSL, SocDems, Palestinian Youth Movement

Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTRuOQGES_m/?hl=en 

7.   Saturday, 2:00pm – 4:00pm, Hands Off Venezuela at Chevron Refinery!

Chevron refinery,
gate 14. 100 Chevron Way,
off of Castro St,
Richmond, CA

Join a coalition of Bay Area groups as we rebuke the occupation of Venezuela for oil extraction. We decry that Chevron profits from occupation of Venezuela and Palestine, and benefits from the destabilization of other countries like Ecuador, Myanmar, the Philippines and beyond.

Meet at gate 14 of the Chevron refinery, off of Castro St right by the freeway.

Don’t stand on the sidelines while Trump spills blood on behalf of the billionaire class while they jack up the prices for rent, healthcare and groceries . Stand with us and take action this Saturday.

We know the bombs over Venezuela and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s untrained ICE militia in our cities are about billionaires making themselves richer no matter the human cost. We stand united demanding an end to the Venezuelan occupation and the removal of reckless untrained ICE agents from our communities.

Every dollar spent in wars overseas or at home is a dollar we paid for with our taxes – a dollar that could and should go to helping our communities thrive. We can have good jobs, better schools, access to healthcare and get our basic needs met. But not while our government works for billionaires and not for us.

Join us, stand strong and speak up.

Please note: A core principle behind all our events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events

For more information: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTQu147EpIs/?

Info: Hands Off Venezuela at Chevron Refinery! : Indybay 

8.   Saturday, 5:30pm – 7:00pm, A Community Conversation: How Fascism is Controlling Us and the World

Black & Brown Social Club
474 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA

Light vegetarian meal shared.

All are invited to attend:
~ A Community Conversation ~

Join us in conversation for
Updates / Analysis on Venezuela, Palestine and Immigration
  – All struggles are related and must unite!

And on:

Moving with Love, Hope, Compassion and Knowledge
  – Is how we can defeat fascism.

 Host: United Front Against Fascism

Info: A Community Conversation: How Fascism is Controlling Us and the World : Indybay

Sunday, January 11

9.   Sunday, 12Noon – 1:00pm, Close Guantánamo Prison NOW! A 24 Year Stain on the U.S.

50 United Nations Plaza
Civic Center, at Hyde St.
San Francisco

January 11th marks 24 years since the shameful opening of Guantánamo Bay Detention Center.

The military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay is a glaring, longstanding stain on the human rights record of the United States. It facilitated horrific torture and other grave human rights violations. Today, it continues to hold 15 Muslim men, six of whom have never been charged with a crime and three of whom have long been cleared for release.

The detention center is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, costing more than $540 million a year to maintain for just 15 detainees. It has come to symbolize the United States’ brutal use of torture, rendition and indefinite detention without charge or trial – in complete violation of internationally agreed-upon standards of justice and human rights.

Please join in community with the Global Close Guantánamo Vigils happening around the world on this shameful anniversary.

Wear orange, share words, a poem, a song.

Info: Close Guantánamo Prison NOW! A 24 Year Stain on the U.S. : Indybay

Monday, January 12

10.Monday, 12:30pm – 1:30pm, No Monarch’s Monday: Weekly Protest at Tesla in San Francisco

At the Tesla Dealership,
999 Van Ness (corner of Van Ness and O’Farrell),
San Francisco

No Monarchs Monday (the butterflies are ok).
Join us to stand up for democracy, civil liberties, and the planet, and against the fascist/authoritarian Trump Regime!
ICE OUT FOR GOOD! NO WAR IN VENEZUELA!
Bring a sign if you have one.

This is a peaceful protest.

Info: No Monarch’s Monday: Weekly Protest at Tesla in San Francisco : Indybay

US Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) speaks while flanked with two of the three co-sponsors of a Venezuela war powers resolution—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)—on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on January 8, 2025.

 (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“With this historic, bipartisan vote to prevent further war in Venezuela, Congress has begun the long-overdue work of reasserting its constitutional role in decisions of war and peace,” said one observer.

Brett Wilkins

Jan 08, 2026

Amid President Donald Trump’s admission that his intervention in Venezuela could last years, US senators voted Thursday to advance legislation aimed at blocking the president’s use of military forces against the oil-rich South American nation.

Senators voted 52-47 to advance a war powers resolution introduced last month by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “to block the use of the US armed forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress” as required by the 1973 War Powers Act.

RECOMMENDED…

‘Absolute Dereliction of Duty’: House Republicans Kill Venezuela War Powers Resolutions

‘The Actions of a Rogue State’: US Lawmakers Demand Emergency Vote to Stop Trump War on Venezuela

The Senate will now continue debating the measure, which, if passed by both the upper chamber and the House of Representatives, would be subject to a likely veto by Trump—who has sunk two previous war powers resolutions unrelated to Venezuela.

https://x.com/CraigCaplan/status/2009305921608884675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2009305921608884675%7Ctwgr%5E36d0fd1231fa62250f9165485ae0ba1c22d53005%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fanother-venezuela-war-powers-resolution

In addition to Paul, four other GOP senators voted to advance the resolution: Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Todd Young of Indiana. While lawmakers often assent during the procedural phase, only to cast ballots against legislation during final votes, at least one of the GOP senators signaled they will vote the same as they did Thursday.

“While I support the operation to seize [Venezuelan President] Nicolás Maduro, which was extraordinary in its precision and complexity, I do not support committing additional US forces or entering into any long-term military involvement in Venezuela or Greenland without specific congressional authorization,” Collins said in a statement, referring to Trump’s threats to acquire the Danish territory by force if he deems it necessary. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) this week introduced a bill that would ban the president from any such action.

“I believe invoking the War Powers Act at this moment is necessary, given the president’s comments about the possibility of ‘boots on the ground’ and a sustained engagement ‘running’ Venezuela, with which I do not agree,” added Collins, who is facing a serious challenge for her Senate seat from candidates including former Maine Gov. Janet Mills and progressive Graham Platner, both Democrats who oppose US military action in Venezuela.

At the time of bipartisan war powers resolution’s introduction last month, Trump had not yet attacked Venezuelan territory, although he had threatened to do so, deployed warships and thousands of US troops to the region, authorized covert CIA action to topple Maduro, and ordered the bombing of boats the administration claimed—without evidence—were smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

However, Trump dramatically escalated US intervention in Venezuela, first with a December drone strike on a port facility and then by bombing and invading the country and abducting Maduro and his wife.

Asked during a Wednesday interview with the New York Times whether the US intervention in Venezuela would last a year, or longer, Trump replied, “I would say much longer,” explaining that “we will rebuild” the country “in a very profitable way,” including by “taking oil” from it.

The specter of yet another US “forever war” like the ongoing open-ended War on Terror that’s left nearly 1 million people dead in at least seven countries since 2001 has prompted the introduction of several congressional war powers resolutions. So far, none have passed.

“If there was ever a moment for the Senate to find its voice, it is now,” Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of Thursday’s vote. “Today, the Senate must assert the authority given to it on matters of war and peace. We must send Donald Trump a clear message on behalf of the American people: No more endless wars. Donald Trump’s ready for an endless war in Venezuela, and lord knows where else. The American people are not.”

Kaine made it clear during his pre-vote Senate floor remarks that the resolution does not challenge the “execution of a valid arrest warrant against Nicolás Maduro,” which—despite experts concurring that the invasion and abduction were illegal—he called “good for America and good for Venezuela.”

However, Kaine said, given that Trump’s intervention “will go on for a long period of time,” US troops “should not be used for hostilities in Venezuela without a vote of Congress as the Constitution requires.”

“No one has ever regretted a vote that just says, Mr. President, before you send our sons and daughters to war, come to Congress,” he added.

However, such votes have very rarely succeeded in stopping any president from proceeding with military action.

In 2019 during Trump’s first term, the House and Senate both passed a war powers resolution introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to cut off US military support for the Saudi-led coalition’s atrocity-laden war on Yemen. Trump vetoed the measure, and senators lacked the two-thirds majority needed to override his move.

The following year, both houses of Congress passed another war powers resolution—this one introduced in the Senate by Kaine—to terminate military action against Iran. But Trump again vetoed the legislation, and the Senate could not muster the two-thirds majority required for an override. After returning to office last year, Trump ordered sweeping attacks on Iran—and is threatening to do so again.

While Trump took to his Truth Social network to blast the five Republican senators who voted to advance the war powers resolution on Thursday and Vice President JD Vance called the War Powers Act “fundamentally a fake and unconstitutional law,” progressive and anti-war advocacy groups hailed the advancement.

“With this historic, bipartisan vote to prevent further war in Venezuela, Congress has begun the long-overdue work of reasserting its constitutional role in decisions of war and peace,” Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian said in a statement.

“We commend the leadership of Sens. Kaine and Paul in forcing this vote, and we thank Sens. Collins, Young, Hawley, and Murkowski for their principled votes,” Kharrazian continued. “Senators should move quickly to adopt the resolution to prevent further unauthorized military escalation and the House should follow suit.”

“Congress should also make clear, using the full force of the law, that no president has the authority to unilaterally launch hostilities anywhere in the world,” he added, “whether in Venezuela or against other countries the administration has openly threatened, including Cuba, Greenland, Colombia, and Iran.”

https://embed.bsky.app/embed/did:plc:lugfl5ovij6keueyqpd3zjz4/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbwhogsmks2j?id=8552532060306806&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Fanother-venezuela-war-powers-resolution&colorMode=system

Jose Vasquez, executive director of Common Defense and an Army veteran, said, “The vote is a victory for the Constitution, the stability of the region, and for the veterans and military families who organized, spoke out, and refused to accept another reckless slide toward forever war.”

“By drawing this vote, Congress sends an essential message that accountability still matters and that no one person or presidential administration can send Americans to war,” he added. “Veterans will remain organized and vigilant, but today shows what is possible when Congress listens to the will of the people and leans toward peace rather than war.”

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Brett Wilkins

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

Full Bio >

8 January 2026/SF News/Jay Barmann

Hundreds marched through San Francisco’s Mission District Wednesday night following a deadly shooting by ICE agents across the country in Minneapolis, and there was a simultaneous protest in Oakland as well.

“We’ve already been seeing them throw people to the ground, now they’re just going to shoot them point blank in the window,” says one of last night’s protesters, Jennifer Dees of San Francisco, speaking to NBC Bay Area.

“I’m here in San Francisco marching with hundreds of people marching to demand justice for Renee Nicole Good, who was killed by ICE in Minnesota today while protecting her Somali immigrant neighbors,” says Sanika, an activist with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, in a video posted to social media. “On less than three hours notice, we’ve gathered hundreds of people here alongside protests across the country. ICE brings terror and violence to our communities wherever they go, but we know the people will rise up and fight back against these attacks and all attacks on working people.”

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As KTVU reports, a group of around 100 protesters also gathered outside the downtown San Francisco ICE facility on Sansome Street Wednesday night, along with a protest that formed in Oakland.

Per NBC Bay Area, a protest was planned Thursday morning in San Jose, and another is planned Thursday evening in Pleasanton.

Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was reportedly driving home from dropping off her six-year-old son at school when she and her partner encountered ICE agents on their street in Minneapolis. As CNN explains, Good, in the driver’s seat of an SUV, was partly blocking the street as an ICE SUV approached, and stopped, telling them to “go around.” Agents are then seen getting out of their car and demanding she get out of hers.

Several agents approach the driver’s side window, one saying “Get the fuck out of the car,” and one ICE agent who was standing near the front of the car, draws his weapon and shoots Good after she accelerated forward, bumping him out of the way. Her car then is seen crashing into a parked car.

Video of the incident, in which ICE agents do not appear in much or any danger from Good’s vehicle, has widely circulated, and both President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are sparking ire for their attempts to cast Good as a “domestic terrorist,” and to tell people what they saw with their own eyes isn’t true.

“This appears as an attempt to kill or to create bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem said.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote, referring first to a neighbor who was screaming from behind the camera about the shooting itself, “The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”

The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, quickly called “bullshit” on the president’s response to the situation, and has been outspoken in the last 24 hours about the gravity of the situation with ICE’s continued incursions in American cities.

“What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,” Frey said of ICE. “They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”

Minneapolis has been a particular focus of ICE activity in the last month as the president ramped up his rhetoric about Somali immigrants living there.

Top image: A portrait of Renee Nicole Good is pasted to a light pole near the site of her shooting on January 08, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to federal officials, an ICE agent shot and killed Good during a confrontation yesterday in south Minneapolis. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

8 January 2026/SF Politics/Joe Kukura (SFist.com)

“The question was “Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?” and Chan and Chakrabarti immediately held up their Yes signs. Scott Wiener sat there frozen and did not move, let alone indicate Yes or No.”

With Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat legitimately up for grabs for the first time in nearly 40 years, the three challengers to succeed her — Scott Wiener, Connie Chan, and Saikat Chakrabarti — duked it out at a candidate forum Wednesday night.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has been an absolutely groundbreaking and legendary legislator, but she’s been the only congressional representative San Francisco has seen since freaking 1987. And at 85 years old, it’s probably time.

So Pelosi has announced she’s going to retire soon, which finally opens up her seat for a new representative. And “barring any lunacy” (in the words of Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi), Pelosi’s seat will be won in November either by state Senator Scott Wiener, D1 SF Supervisor Connie Chan, or former tech executive and AOC/Bernie staffer Saikat Chakrabarti.

Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi made that assessment Wednesday night when the three candidates faced off on the same stage for the first time at UC Law San Francisco. It was a “candidates forum” (technically not a debate) sponsored by the California Working Families Party, Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, and the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. And you can watch the entire two-hour affair below, though we’ve picked out the good parts to give you a Cliffs Notes version of what happened Wednesday night.

The forum doesn’t really start until the 8:45 mark, and naturally, begins with a moment of silence for Wednesday’s ICE shooting victim Renee Nicole Good. The forum was moderated by the Bay Area Reporter’s Cynthia Laird and Joe Eskenazi, who hilariously started with the first question “What is the role of a San Francisco congressperson – oh, Jesus Christ!” (an expletive he muttered upon realizing he forgot to allow the candidates to give their opening statements).

As the Chronicle points out, these three far-left candidates completely agree on almost every national issue. “They all support Medicare for All,” as the Chron points out. “They would all like to break Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s monopoly and allow municipalities to adopt public power. They all think the Supreme Court should be expanded and that Justice Clarence Thomas and President Donald Trump should be impeached.”

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But if there was a single standout memorable moment from Wednesday night, social media sure thinks it was during the lightning-round “hold up a Yes or No sign” segment. The question was “Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?” and Chan and Chakrabarti immediately held up their Yes signs. Scott Wiener sat there frozen and did not move, let alone indicate Yes or No.  

As the SF Standard tells it, “Audience members shouted ‘Shame on you,’ ‘Sellout,’ and ‘Free Palestine.’” Mission Local describes the bedlam as people yelling “‘Answer the question Scott!,’ ‘Shame on you! Shame on you!,’” and says that “Several waved keffiyahs from their seats.”

Wiener tried a little cleanup on Aisle Seven in post-event remarks. “Hamas should not be running Gaza,” Wiener told the Standard afterward, but added that the Israeli government’s level of violence, “is an absolute moral stain and horrifying to me.” The Standard asked him point-blank if it was genocide, and Wiener said, “People can label it whatever noun or adjective they want to put on it.”

Supervisor Chan managed to localize all of these issues more than the other two (she even dropped a Sophie Maxwell reference!), emphasizing that Democrats need to improve their message “on our agenda, we have not delivered for working people.”

“San Francisco’s rent is too high, and the cost of living is too high, and that’s the most pressing thought on many of us living in San Francisco,” she said. Chan claimed she had “beat back billionaires, twice” (referring to her two D1 electoral victories, both in which the YIMBY/tech class came at her hard).“We cannot take back Congress by cozying up to billionaires,” Chan said Wednsday night.

Saikat Chakrabarti also leaned hard on an anti-establishment message. “We’re going to have to take on not just MAGA republicans, but corporate money, and the failed democratic establishment,” he said at the forum. “We need to completely change the direction and leadership of the Democratic party.”

Though as Mission Local notes, “When asked about his supportive vote for Prop C after the debate, Chakrabarti said that he knew Prop C was a municipal bond but couldn’t remember what it was about specifically, looking it up on his phone.”

And Wiener went after Chakrabarti pretty ruthlessly for his lack of involvement in anything resembling SF local politics. “It’s not enough to just to have good opinions or a lot of hot takes, or go on a lot of podcasts, or spend six months on Capitol Hill and then leave,” Wiener said, clearly singling out Chakrabarti’s recent resume. “You’ve got to show that you are up to the task of building the broad-based coalitions that we need.”

As the Chronicle also notes, each of these candidates would be a “first”: Wiener would be the SF’s first openly gay congressperson, Chan would be the first Asian-American, Chakrabarti would be the first Indian-American.

Regardless, only two of these candidates will survive the June 2, 2026 primary election. Those two survivors will then face off to take Pelosi’s US House seat in the November 3, 2026 general election.

Related: Connie Chan Officially In, London Breed Out In Race For Pelosi’s House Seat [SFist]

Image: CA Working Families Party via Youtube

Robert Reich

Jan 9, 2026

Renee Good

Friends,

In Minneapolis yesterday, and ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three. The shooting occurred on a residential street in south Minneapolis (less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020).

Trump claimed that Ms. Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” the ICE agent. Kristi Noem claimed that “our officers were out trying to get a car stuck out of the snow when they were surrounded and assaulted and blocked in by protesters.”

Several videos taken from different angles (see, for example, here) and several analyses of the videos (see here) make it clear that Trump’s and Noem’s descriptions of what occurred are blatant lies.

According to an eyewitness, ICE agents yelled contradictory instructions at Good — one telling her to leave and then, as she complied, another tried to open her door and told her to get out, while a third shot her in the face.

As horrific as this murder is, Trump and his regime’s response has been almost as chilling.

Trump accused Good of being a “professional agitator” and blamed the tragedy on “the Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate.” Noem accused Good of being engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.” JD Vance called her “part of a broader left-wing network” and said the killing was “a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left.”

I don’t know Renee Good’s politics. But why would her political leanings be relevant to her murder? Are Trump and his sycophants suggesting that it’s okay for federal agents to murder someone based on their political beliefs?

Minnesota’s investigators have been told by the FBI that they will not be allowed to investigate; only the FBI will investigate. As Governor Tim Walz noted, it will be “very difficult for Minnesotans to think in any way this is going to be fair when Kristi Noem is judge, jury, and basically executioner.”

A cold-blooded murder was committed inside the United States by an agent of the United States federal government acting under the authority of Donald Trump.

That is cause for deep concern by us all — right and left, Democrat and Republican.

During a conversation with the New York Times that was reported today, Trump said “the only thing that can stop me” is “my own morality. My own mind.”

Trump was responding to a question about checks on his power to attack nations around the world. But his response is increasingly relevant to his power domestically.

Dictators murder whomever they choose. That’s not how the United States is supposed to work.

KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco Streamed live 19 hours ago The candidates vying to replace Nancy Pelosi as the representative for California’s eleventh congressional district will on Wednesday night meet for their first candidate forum. Watch FOX LOCAL San Francisco live for the latest breaking news from San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and the entire Bay Area. KTVU delivers the best in-depth reports, interviews and breaking news coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area and California

And we are the ones to stop him!

Dean Obeidallah

Jan 07, 2026 (deanobeidallah.substack.com)

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Invoking Hitler generally means you’ve lost the argument. But that’s not the case when you are noting that Donald Trump is copying Hitler’s playbook—which is the fascist approach to acquiring and retaining power. And after Trump’s attack on Venezuela and threat to attack and annex other nations in the Western Hemisphere, you’d be a fool not to point out the parallels and red flags.

That is why the mild-mannered Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson is not holding back in raising alarm bells that Trump is following in the footsteps of Hitler when it comes to seeking to expand his power. In our discussion on the 5^th anniversary of Trump’s deadly terrorist attack on our Capitol, Rep. Johnson put it bluntly: “Donald Trump is the kind of leader who is similar to Hitler.”

Johnson—who is a former judge and currently a senior member on the House Judiciary committee—explained Trump “plays upon people’s emotions and ignorance, and stirs up their passions and prejudices so that he can then lead them into doing something that right-minded people would not do.” He warned that Trump wants to end our democracy—which resonates even more on the 5^th anniversary of his Jan. 6 attack.

Then the Rep continued, “In Hitler’s case, it was to try to eliminate Jews and others from the planet which is a much more diabolical scheme.” He then added this bone-chilling line: “Donald Trump is capable of the same thing.”

Think about that for a moment. Does anyone doubt Trump is as dangerous as people like Hitler and Putin when it comes to democracy, punishing those who dare to defy them and targeting minorities for political power?!

If Trump had his way, all who oppose him would suffer some punishment. In fact, he has utilized the power of the federal government to target those who have defied him from criminally prosecuting people like NY AG Tish James to punishing media outlets and law firms to even trying to silence Jimmy Kimmel. He sent US troops into the streets of American cities as a show of force. And like past fascists, he has given his base an enemy in Brown skinned immigrants—unleashing his ICE upon.

Now Trump is openly talking of conquering other nation’s including Greenland that is part of the NATO alliance by way of Denmark. And on Tuesday, Trump announced that Venezuela will “give” the United States between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil. Of course, this oil is not being “given” to us. The current leader of Venezuela just saw her boss get kidnapped by the Trump regime for not doing what he wanted. In addition, our military is literally holding a gun to the head of the nation. No, this is called armed robbery.

Worse, Trump boasted on social media that the oil will be sold and the proceeds “will be controlled by me.” When is the last time you saw an American president tell us that after we steal resources from another country, he would personally distribute the proceeds as he sees fit?! Of course, we know that means Trump will personally profit from the oil sales.

As the Rep. Johnson explained, Trump’s goal is to take America “back to the old, imperialism, European-style imperialism.” He continued that such policies are “inhuman, and immoral” but are fueled by Trump’s corrupt focus not on what is good for our nation but on his own “power and money.”

And Trump shows no signs of slowing down on his fascist aspirations. That very point was made by Trump’s aide Stephen Miller Tuesday on CNN as he defended the idea of annexing other lands including Greenland. The human gargoyle told Jake Tapper: “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else. But we live in a world, in the real world…that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” He then added: “These are the iron laws of the world.”

This concept is what has animated the Trump regime’s policies this second term. It’s the idea of “might makes right.” Forget international law and alliances, take what you want—be it another country, oil, free planes from foreign leaders, starting a war with NATO allies, etc. It’s also what animated Hitler, Putin, Mussolini and other strongmen through time.

The fact Trump has never been held accountable for any crimes plus been granted immunity by the GOP Supreme Court has only embolden him this second term. Trump is at the point where he is even breaking the promises he made to his base during the 2024 campaign of avoiding military actions and focusing on “America first.”

That is why Rep. Johnson then shared this warning about Trump: “If you let Trump go too far, then he will just go further and further.” He then added this line that has stayed with me, “That’s why Trump has to be stopped now.”

How can we stop him? Well to be blunt it won’t be easy. But Rep. Johnson shared how all of us can play a role: “We [Congress] have to contest everything that he does. The American people have to get out and protest peacefully against the policies of this administration, both foreign and domestic, because they both affect taxpayers.”

It is up to us to stop Trump. We’ve done it before. Now we have no choice but to do it again—regardless of the cost.

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You can watch my full interview with Rep. Hank Johnson below:

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Deregulated capitalism made it that way.

by Harold Meyerson January 7, 2026 (Prospect.org)

In Socialism, his 1972 magnum opus, Michael Harrington termed the American labor movement an “invisible” mass social democratic movement. Even as he noted that its language, its forms, and its foreign policy (at least at the AFL-CIO) suggested nothing like social democratic beliefs, it had been the leading force behind such landmark Great Society legislation as Medicare and Medicaid, and remained the leading force behind expanding such social welfare policies in the years thereafter. Most commentators and scholars of American politics had missed this transformation, Harrington wrote, because it had happened gradually and incrementally, with no ideological proclamations or even much in the way of discussions to herald this transformation. Hence, its invisibility.

More from Harold Meyerson

In much the same way that Harrington called U.S. unions an invisible social democracy half a century ago, I’m inclined to slap that label on the Democratic Party today. If not all its elected officials—certainly not all its elected officials—then the term not only describes, but best describes, rank-and-file Democrats today.

Last month, Rep. Pramila Jayapal shared with Politico a GQR poll taken in November that showed fully 90 percent of Democrats favored Medicare for All—which would be tantamount to nationalizing the entire health insurance industry. This followed an Economist/YouGov poll from last summer that showed 85 percent of Democrats (and 57 percent of independents) favored Medicare for All, while just 7 percent of Democrats (and 24 percent of independents) opposed it. It’s also in accord with a Data for Progress survey from November that showed that even when informed that Medicare for All would eliminate most private insurance and be funded through higher taxes, 78 percent of Democrats (plus 64 percent of independents and 47 percent of Republicans) would nonetheless support Medicare for All.

Were this an ideological one-off—a reaction only to our steadily less affordable and steadily more dysfunctional system of private insurance, even as Democrats otherwise affirmed their belief in other sectors’ markets—it wouldn’t in itself make the Democrats a social democratic party. But it’s not. As I’ve noted throughout the past year, polling the Democrats on virtually any topic in 2025 revealed a consistent belief in social democracy. A Gallup poll from September showed that 66 percent of Democrats had a favorable view of socialism, while just 42 percent had a favorable view of capitalism. A YouGov poll from November showed that 66 percent of Americans—not just Democrats—supported socialist Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to provide free universal child care, while 57 percent even favored his proposal to establish city-owned grocery stores.

None of these findings suggest that all Democratic candidates should be beating the hustings while touting, say, collective farms. The immense amounts of money that corporations and oligarchs will throw against these and other such proposals, and the candidates who make them, will doubtless affect voter behavior, as it has in the past. But where the political space is there, as it clearly is in virtually every American city and many American suburbs, Democratic candidates shouldn’t shy away from conforming their proposals to the beliefs of their fellow Democrats, particularly if the independents in their states or districts affirm those beliefs as well.

Harrington’s invisible social democrats of the 1970s were the leaders and staffers of America’s unions, and the direct beneficiaries of some social democratic programs, chiefly Medicare. Today, the roll call of America’s social democrats has grown exponentially, not due to anything resembling socialist propaganda, but rather, to the economy’s thousand unnatural shocks— deunionization, financialization, globalization, deregulation, and steadily more regressive taxation, for starters—that have enriched our nation’s wealthiest 10 percent while plunging everyone else into either problems or crises of unaffordability, whether of homes, health care, or tuition. As I documented in my article in the Prospect’s December print issue, had that 90 percent of American workers retained the same share of the nation’s income that they had before Ronald Reagan began breaking unions and dismantling the tax and regulatory policies created by the New Deal, they would have earned $79 trillion more than they did in the years since Reagan was elected president in 1980. In 2025 alone, each of the roughly 140 million American workers in the bottom 90 percent would have earned an additional $28,000.

That upward redistribution of income, wealth, and political power amounts to a systemic crisis for which rank-and-file Democrats now favor systemic solutions, whether they call them socialist or social democratic or not. I can understand why a Democrat in a conservative district might not go whole hog on an immediate transformation to, say, Medicare for All, but at the very least, where Democrats should draw the line is accepting contributions from people and institutions opposed to the fundamentals of workers’ rights and social democracy. That includes the tech behemoths behind AI and their culturally liberal but economically oligopolistic board members and executives.

I recently noted that in attendance at a D.C. fundraiser for Luke Bronin, who is mounting a primary challenge to longtime liberal Democrat Rep. John Larson for his central Connecticut House seat, was Jamie Gorelick, who’d been the deputy attorney general in Bill Clinton’s Justice Department. Gorelick has been a board member of Amazon for the past 14 years, where her legal expertise has doubtless come in handy. During those years, Amazon has gone to court to argue that the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Labor Relations Board are unconstitutional, refused to bargain with the Staten Island warehouse workers who voted to go union in 2022, and shuttered all seven of its warehouses in Quebec after workers in one of those warehouses had voted to unionize.

Even as the base of the Democratic Party is an increasingly visible force for social democracy, the least we should expect of Democratic candidates is that they don’t owe their careers to dismantlers of the New Deal. Nor do they have to be socialists themselves, but they at least should understand that their fellow Democrats seek a decidedly more social democratic America, and act accordingly.

Up to now, the media have generally treated the most prominent democratic socialists in the Democratic Party’s ranks—Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Zohran Mamdani—as outliers within a party that has long existed comfortably within a capitalist economy. Much as the media in Harrington’s time couldn’t see how the labor movement was evolving, today’s media is correspondingly slow to note why there’s such enthusiasm, spilling well beyond the still small ranks of avowed socialists, for Bernie and Zohran and AOC. To be sure, the social democratic transformation of the Democratic Party, beginning at the level of its rank and file, is internally contested every day; significant elements of the party continually push back, and the central role that money plays in electoral politics gives those elements their power and their sway.

But it took a profound transformation of Americans’ social and economic lives, at the hands of a deregulated and financialized capitalism, that pushed the Democrats left, and it’s time that the media reconsidered what constitutes the party’s new mainstream. The “party,” whatever that may be (the DNC? the Democratic campaign committees?) has issued no manifestos, and such big-money-beholden party entities will be the last to acknowledge this change. Rather, this is a transformation that began with the rank and file and required Bernie Sanders’s first presidential campaign to make it visible even to left activists. That, however, was a full decade ago. And whatever this social democratic force now may have become, it certainly shouldn’t be viewed as marginal—much less, invisible. Today, it is the base of the Democratic Party.

You’ve just read one of the stories we published this week because readers like you made it possible.

The Prospect doesn’t answer to advertisers or billionaire owners. We answer to you. That’s not a slogan—it’s how we’re funded, and it’s why we can report without fear or favor.

Independent, reader-supported journalism is rare. We’d like to keep it going. If you believe this kind of reporting should exist and remain free to read we hope you’ll consider chipping in. Every contribution, however modest, makes a real difference.

Support independent journalism

With gratitude,

Mitch Grummon
Publisher

Related

What the Polls Are Screaming to ‘Mainstream’ Democrats

September 9, 2025

Americans and Socialism: Some New Numbers

October 8, 2019

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Harold Meyerson

hmeyerson@prospect.org

Harold Meyerson is editor at large of The American Prospect. More by Harold Meyerson

As a killing in Minneapolis is documented, the law clearly stipulates that federal agents do not have universal immunity.

by David Dayen January 7, 2026 (Prospect.org)

On Wednesday afternoon, ICE agents carrying out an operation in south Minneapolis were briefly obstructed by a car blocking traffic. ICE agents approached the female driver, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, yelling, “Get out of the fucking car,” and one of them attempted to open the driver’s-side door. After the driver backed up to turn around and move, another agent drew his gun and unloaded three shots into the car. The car barreled into a light pole about 100 feet down the road, and the driver was quickly pronounced dead.

This is confirmed by eyewitness accounts and videos from multiple angles. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while confirming the broad details, claims that the ICE agent acted in self-defense to avoid being run over by the vehicle.

More from David Dayen

These are the kinds of disputes that the courts are equipped to handle. Because if an agent shot directly into a car and killed the driver without some credible fear of personal harm, it would be called murder. And federal agents can indeed be prosecuted for murder.

States can prosecute anyone for violations of state law, regardless of their rank or authority. Murder is a felony in the state of Minnesota, as it is in every other state. Within the last several years, we saw Minnesota successfully prosecute a murder, committed by a law enforcement officer, that was documented on tape and broadcast to the world.

The Supremacy Clause does give federal officials some protections from state laws, but they “only appl[y] when federal officials are reasonably acting within the bounds of their lawful federal duties,” according to a position paper issued by the University of Wisconsin Law School. Shooting an unarmed person who is in the process of fleeing a scene would be unlawful, and while DHS would certainly contest that in court, that’s a wholly proper venue for the debate.

The history of state prosecutions of federal officials goes back to the War of 1812, when some New England states used state statutes to prosecute federal customs officers who seized goods that were under a trade embargo. Often, they are used to resist a federal law that states don’t like, such as the Fugitive Slave Act.

But numerous states have indicted, charged, and arrested federal law enforcement officers for conduct that exceeded their official duties. In 1898, Virginia charged a federal tax collector posse with shooting and killing horses and cattle during a shootout. The federal posse claimed they were ambushed while attempting to collect taxes.

More to the point, in Findley v. Satterfield (1877), Castle v. Lewis (1918), Oregon v. Wood (1920), Smith v. Gilliam (1922),  Maryland v. Soper (1926), and many more, states alleged that federal officers committed murder or attempted murder while engaged in law enforcement activity. Almost always, the federal response was that they were performing federal duties, that they acted in self-defense, or both. Often, these cases were removed to federal court, but the state prosecutors maintained the case. (Federal officers have the right to move cases to federal court, but not the unlimited right; they have to assert some plausible federal defense to the charges.)

Sometimes the courts accepted the federal officers’ arguments and had state charges dropped. Sometimes they invoked the Supremacy Clause and determined that these officers could not be prosecuted. But in Castle v. Lewis and Ex parte Huston, both of which involved federal officials shooting into a car believed to be transporting liquor during Prohibition, the judge allowed the cases to go forward, citing unreasonable use of force and a lack of connection to the discharge of federal duties.

More recently, states have prosecuted officers, often successfully, for a variety of misconduct, up to and including murder. One of the more notorious ones came from Idaho in 1992, where state prosecutors charged an FBI sniper with killing the unarmed wife of anti-government activist Randall Weaver at his Ruby Ridge cabin. A federal appeals court did allow the case to go forward, but a newly elected county prosecutor dropped the charges.

Prosecutors in Santa Clara County, California, successfully prosecuted a postal worker (a federal officer) who killed a bicyclist in 1989. Virginia prosecuted a U.S. Park Police officer who shot a man to death in 2017, but again after an election, charges were dropped. Oregon prosecuted a Drug Enforcement Administration officer who killed a biker with his car while catching up with his colleagues; the Ninth Circuit just affirmed a lower-court dismissal of the case last month.

Supreme Court: “Federal officers and employees are not, merely because they are such, granted immunity from prosecution in state courts for crimes against state law.”

The point is that states have the ability to enforce their laws against federal officers or agents, in precisely the same circumstances as in this potential case in Minneapolis. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. But the law does not confer automatic immunity to federal officers. “Federal officers and employees are not, merely because they are such, granted immunity from prosecution in state courts for crimes against state law,” the Supreme Court wrote in Colorado v. Symes nearly 100 years ago.

It is entirely possible that this Court will look to different precedents, like In re Neagle in 1890, to throw out a state murder case against an ICE agent. But if that threat prevents Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison or local prosecutors from pursuing justice, then ICE has practical immunity for all intents and purposes already. During this frenzied moment, declining to prosecute state violations of law from immigration enforcement seems like it will simply invite abuse after abuse.

Of course, President Trump would be almost certain to act to punish Minnesota in some way if they dared to indict an ICE officer for murder. But Trump is already acting unilaterally to punish Minnesota! That’s why these agents were out hassling Minneapolis residents in the first place. Those acts of retaliation will play out in court and be decided well before any new retaliation in the ICE incident, and precedent indicates that the president will lose in trying to single out individual state funding for unrelated reasons. (I should add that state crimes cannot be expunged with a federal pardon, as Trump is finding out with Tina Peters in Colorado.)

The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has asked ICE agents to leave the city, but that’s unlikely to be followed. He has also said that the “self-defense” claim by DHS is “bullshit.” There is a way to deal with that discrepancy, and it’s called criminal prosecution. An indictment would signal to agents that their actions are circumscribed by state law, including the law against murder. Lame-duck Gov. Tim Walz has promised “a full, fair, and expeditious investigation” of the incident. There is ample precedent to go further.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to better reflect the Oregon case with the DEA agent.

You’ve just read one of the stories we published this week because readers like you made it possible.

The Prospect doesn’t answer to advertisers or billionaire owners. We answer to you. That’s not a slogan—it’s how we’re funded, and it’s why we can report without fear or favor.

Independent, reader-supported journalism is rare. We’d like to keep it going. If you believe this kind of reporting should exist and remain free to read we hope you’ll consider chipping in. Every contribution, however modest, makes a real difference.

Support independent journalism

With gratitude,

Mitch Grummon
Publisher

Related

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David Dayen

ddayen@prospect.org

David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power and Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud. He hosts the weekly live show The Weekly Roundup and co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with Matt Stoller. He can be reached on Signal at ddayen.90. More by David Dayen

7 January 2026/SF Politics/Jay Barmann (SFist.com)

The federal immigration court in downtown San Francisco that started 2025 with 21 judges and will soon be down to just four, thanks to Trump administration mass-firings, will close by January 2027.

News arrived Wednesday that federal officials are planning to shut down the immigration court at 100 Montgomery Street in San Francisco by the end of the year, and transfer all or most immigration court activity to the court in Concord. Mission Local reported the news via a source close to the situation, and KTVU subsequently confirmed the move.

Jeremiah Johnson, one of the SF judges who was fired this past year, serves as vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, and confirmed the news to KTVU.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration court operations, has yet to comment.

As Mission Local reports, a smaller set of courtrooms at the other SF immigration facility and ICE headquarters at 630 Sansome Street will remain open for business.

The Concord immigration court saw five judge fired last year, though two had not yet begun hearing any cases. Seven judges remain at that court, and four remaining judges based at 100 Montgomery are expected to be transferred there by this summer.

Mission Local previously reported that out of 21 judges serving at the courthouse last spring, 13 have been fired in recent months, and four others are scheduled for retirement by the end of this month.

This is happening as the court has a backlog of some 120,000 pending cases.

As Politico reported last month, the Trump administration has fired around 98 immigration judges out of the 700 who had been serving as of early last year.

Olivia Cassin, a fired judge based in New York, said this was by design, and, “It’s about destroying a system where cases are carefully considered by people with knowledge of the subject matter.”

This is all perfectly legal, as Politico explained, because immigration judges serve in administrative courts as at-will employees, under the purview of the Department of Justice — and do not have the same protections as the federal judiciary bench.

A spokesperson for the DOJ has said that the department is “restoring integrity to our immigration system and encourages talented legal professionals to join in our mission to protect national security and public safety,” following “four years of the Biden Administration forcing Immigration Courts to implement a de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens.”

Johnson also spoke to Politico suggesting that this recruitment language by the DOJ is disingenuous, and that the real intention is just to cripple the entire court system and prevent most legal immigration cases from being heard.

“During Trump One, when I was appointed, there was a policy that got some pushback called ‘No Dark Courtrooms.’ We were to hear cases every day, use all the [available] space,” Johnson said, speaking to Politico. “Now, there’s vacant courtrooms that are not being utilized. And any attempts by the administration saying they’re replacing judges — the math just doesn’t work if you look at the numbers.”

Two Democrats in the House, Reps. Dan Goldman of New York and Zoe Lofgren of California, have recently introduced legislation that would move immigration courts out of the Executive branch, but that seems likely to go nowhere until Democrats regain control in Congress.