by Randy Shaw on December 1, 2025 (BeyondChron.org)

Ongoing 6th and Market evening drug market

Overdoses are down. Arrests are way up. Tents are way down. Treatment facilities have opened. A fentanyl emergency is in effect.

These are positive developments. But they do not change a core measuring stick for San Francisco in 2025: the lack of a noticeable reduction in sidewalk drug activities.

San Francisco has the most visible open-air drug markets of any major U.S. city. Day and night, hundreds of drug users sit on sidewalks. Newcomers steadily arrive. Young drug users flock to city sidewalks despite Mayor Lurie’s condemnation of drug tourism.

I understand why many want to promote San Francisco’s comeback. Mayor Lurie’s 70% approval reflects the optimism he promotes about the city’s future. I’m all for optimism. But treating statistics that have little to do with closing open air drug markets as if they do clouds the real story: Sidewalk drug use has been allowed to thrive in San Francisco for years.

Consider:

It’s been four years since Mayor Breed issued an Emergency Declaration for the Tenderloin.

It’s been nearly six years since COVID spawned drug-infested Shelter in Place (SIP) hotels. This misguided strategy invited drug tourists from across the nation to come to San Francisco for free rent, free meals, and a private bathroom. The nearby Pelosi Federal Building’s takeover by drug users and dealers soon followed.

Its been over seven years since the New York Times in 2018 exposed the huge drug scene on the northwest side of Eddy and Hyde in Tenderloin. Yet it looks the same today (See “San Francisco’s Oldest Drug Market Still Thrives,” November 3).

The 5th and Market Westfield Center, long home to Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, has all but closed. The exciting new Whole Foods at 8th and Market and Turtle Tower in Little Saigon closed due to problems caused by nearby drug activities. Retail vacancies in these areas have soared.

Despite all the meetings, announcements, task forces, and pledges to do more,  drug-filled sidewalks in San Francisco remain. In November 2024 San Francisco elected a mayor who campaigned on a plan to close them. But even a mayor completely committed to this goal could not meaningful reduce public drug use in his first year.

Why, unlike other major cities, has San Francisco been unable to close its open-air drug markets?

Residents and small business owners in the Tenderloin, Mid-Market, lower Polk, SOMA, the Mission, and other areas daily impacted by sidewalk drug use  are especially frustrated. So are visitors to Market Street theaters, tourists staying in Central City hotels, and patrons of nearby restaurants, clubs, bars and cultural venues.

Few understand why San Francisco cannot protect its sidewalks.

Is there any reason to believe the situation will improve in 2026? Here’s what Mayor Lurie is doing and could be doing to end this crisis.

Too Few Officers

An obvious explanation for drug filled sidewalks is a police force missing 500 officers. Our incredibly committed District Attorney Brooke Jenkins prosecutes every drug case she gets but the the number of arrests cannot keep up with the influx of drug tourists. Police visibility deters drug activities. But for at least five years the police visibility necessary to close drug markets has been lacking.

Former SFPD Chief Bill Scott repeatedly told Tenderloin business people that he wouldn’t blame a lack of police for the area’s drug activities. That made the Breed Administration even more culpable.

Mayor Lurie takes a more honest approach. He’s made it clear that the SFPD struggles to provide the staffing residents and businesses need. His “Rebuilding the Ranks” strategy has increased police officers as well as deputy sheriffs; he’s also made it easier for retired officers to add to these numbers.

Lurie is also addressing the problem that arrests take officers off the streets for hours. His proposed sobering center at 444 Sixth Street will enable officers to make drug arrests and go right back on the street. Tenderloin activists addressed the issue of Station Transfers on a six month trial basis in 2014. It was expected to increase police officers in the neighborhood by 20%. Unfortunately, the pilot was not extended.

Mayor Lurie’s sobering center should save officers even more time. We will be closely monitoring its impact after it opens in March.

Mayor Lurie is trying multiple strategies. Not all work as hoped. He launched a crackdown on Sixth Street only to see the area’s drug activities resume after police operation ended. He extols medical treatment operations like that at 822 Geary Street while open air drug markets thrive a block away.

Providing medical treatment to those in drug crisis is essential. But there is no evidence such facilities help close nearby drug markets (and neighbors contend that the medical program at the Adante Hotel at 610 Geary has made drug activities in the area worse).

The city also continues to allow nonprofits to distribute drug paraphernalia to addicts. It’s a great way to fuel sidewalk drug use.

The mayor’s office also supported, via Interim Chief Paul Yep, the redistricting of Tenderloin Police Station. When it takes effect in June it will meaningfully increase police visibility in the Tenderloin.

But more is needed. To finally close drug markets Lurie should consider the original drug clearance strategy planned by Mayor Breed. We all had high hopes for this plan but Chief Scott refused to implement it.

The Original Drug Clearance Strategy

After declaring a Drug Emergency in the Tenderloin (Chief Scott added no officers so it failed), Mayor Breed brought in Urban Alchemy to help close drug markets. The strategy was clear: after the police cleared drug activities off a block, Urban Alchemy would maintain the block’s safety. This block by block strategy would soon cover all of the drug market blocks in the Tenderloin.

But Chief Scott’s SFPD did not want to collaborate with Urban Alchemy. Nor was the Chief willing to give the Tenderloin the police staffing needed for this strategy to succeed.

So after clearing a large swath of Tenderloin blocks—which remain clear to this day— Urban Alchemy was able to only barely expand in the neighborhood. When you look at the many blocks Urban Alchemy has cleared,  the SFPD’s failure to clear more blocks for Urban Alchemy’s expansion was a huge missed opportunity.

Instead of this systematic approach to closing drug markets the SFPD has pursued a “whack a mole” strategy where blocks are cleared for one to a few hours only to have the market return the same day. The lack of consistent police presence has brought the expected result: sidewalks remain filled with drug activities.

Why not implement the block by block closure strategy now? And not just for the Tenderloin but for Mid-Market, SOMA and other neighborhoods suffering with drug-filled sidewalks?

The Lurie Administration knows that closing drug markets requires more than isolated arrests. It knows that taking back blocks requires consistent action.

Can the city financially afford this strategy to close drug markets? I would say the city cannot afford not to do so.

San Francisco should not allow another year to pass without closing sidewalk drug markets.If City Hall doesn’t like the block by block strategy outlined above, let’s see an alternative that finally accomplishes this goal.

Randy Shaw

<I>Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s new book is the revised and updated, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco. His prior books include Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. </I>

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by Randy Shaw on December 1, 2025 (BeyondChron.org)

1993 flyer. What tenants faced prior to the BIC

Five city officials with no connection to tenant groups is trying to eliminate San Francisco’s most vital tenant protection body: the Building Inspection Commission (BIC). Minutes from a recent meeting of the Streamlining Committee reflect the group’s profound ignorance regarding the BIC’s powers and mission. The Streamlining Committee (hereafter “the Committee) does not understand what the BIC does nor, more importantly, what it is supposed to do.

The Committee was created by Prop E in the November 2024 election. Prop E was the reform alternative to Prop D, which sought to eliminate dozens of commissions and strengthen mayoral power. Voters rejected Prop D, favoring Prop E’s plan for a committee to carefully assess what reforms to the commission system were necessary.

Unfortunately, the Prop E committee has ignored input from  groups affected by potential changes. As a result, the Board of Supervisors must reject the group’s plan to place a measure on the November ballot eliminating or weakening the BIC.

Tenants Deserve Habitable Dwellings

 If Committee members ever read the ballot handbook on the initiative (Prop G) that created the BIC they would know that improving living conditions for tenants drove the measure’s passage. Voters got what they were promised. Prior to the BIC, the downtown-run and politically unaccountable Bureau of Building Inspection (BBI) made housing code enforcement its lowest priority. The BBI failed tenants, landlords, and builders alike.

After the BIC was seated, stronger and far more effective code enforcement procedures were installed in record time. San Francisco went from having one the nation’s worst code enforcement systems to a national model (New York City, Oakland, and Los Angeles consulted me on how to adopt code enforcement procedures based on the San Francisco model).

Under the BIC’s leadership, DBI has never deviated from these successful code enforcement policies to this day. DBI  continues targeting bad landlords rather than good ones, which was not the case at the prior BBI.

The BIC has given San Francisco tenants the greatest protection of their living conditions than renters in any other major city in the United States. This is the success this committee wants to dismantle.

Misunderstanding the BIC’s Role

Why do these people think the BIC has failed?

According to former Director Ed Harrington, the BIC “lends itself to graft and corruption.” The retired controller claims the commission “neither adds value to the City nor provides adequate oversight of the Department of Building Inspection.”

Harrington supports eliminating the BIC, “stating it neither adds value to the City nor provides adequate oversight of the Department of Building Inspection. However, he acknowledged uncertainty about where its current functions should be reassigned.”

Why doesn’t Harrington know where BIC’s functions can be reassigned? Because he proposed its elimination without taking the time to learn what the BIC does.

Ed Harrington was the city Controller when Prop G, which I wrote to create the Department of Building Inspection and the BIC, was on the November 1994 ballot. He never asked me about what the BIC does and should do. He was a great Controller but knows nothing about the history of city code enforcement and the BIC’s role in improving it. To this day Harrington has never taken the time to talk to tenant supporters of BIC.

As a controller, Harrington made sure to perform due diligence before reaching conclusions. He has not done so here.

Graft and Corruption?

The Building Inspection Commission was designed to set housing and building policies and to approve department budgets. Its purpose was never focused on eliminating “graft and corruption” because as a commission its members do not have supervisory authority over front line staff.

Ed Harrington knows enough about how San Francisco operates to know that Commissioners are not to blame for a Building Inspector on the take. Or a permit expediter falsifying information. Commissioners do not directly supervise line employees; I believe a city charter provision bars them from doing so.

In thirty years of operation covering tens of thousands of inspections and permits, DBI has seen a handful of corruption cases. It’s also seen a huge number of cases where commission policies have resulted in tenants getting heat, hot water, and other vital services they did not get before the BIC.

Prior to the BIC the city had no Spanish-speaking housing inspectors! Nearly all housing code lawsuits filed by the city attorney were to close illegal in-law apartments!

Absent a commission, slumlords were almost never prosecuted. Why? Because the downtown interests that controlled the then-BBI did not want the agency to pay the city attorney’s office to sue slumlords.

That’s the world without a BIC that Ed Harrington and his colleagues want San Francisco to revive.

It will take all those who care about tenants and social justice to stop them.

The BIC Can Do Better

 I disagree with Harrington’s claim that the BIC does not provide adequate oversight of the DBI. But I agree the BIC should be more engaged with DBI leadership. DBI is such a large agency that commissioners must be especially dedicated to their role. It’s why talk of combining the BIC with the Planning Commission makes no sense. A single commission does not have the bandwith to set policies and monitor two large and complex departments with many very different functions.

If Planning and Building Inspection were combined under one commission, the big developer and downtown interests would go back to calling all the shots. Housing code enforcement would once again become the lowest priority, as those benefiting from that action rarely make campaign donations.

The minutes report that Vice Chair Bruss felt that the qualification requirements made appointments of quality DBI commissioners difficult. But these requirements were recently amended by Supervisor Melgar. Melgar’s reforms also shifted power over appointing the DBI Director from the BIC to the mayor.

Bruss at least knows enough to conclude that “BIC is responsible for administering mandatory state building code and regulations, which makes its role distinct.” Committee member Sophie Hayward also expressed support for BIC’s elimination but “remained hesitant without a clear understanding of where its functions would go.”

Critics of the sweeping Prop D in November 2024 felt that it had been drafted without input from the broader public. Voters overwhelmingly agreed.

The Streamlining Committee is now making the same mistake.

Randy Shaw

<I>Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s new book is the revised and updated, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco. His prior books include Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. </I>

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I know my poem won’t / prevent the next bomb / won’t even save itself / from choking under the rubble.

Basman Derawi

• November 18, 2025 (wearenotnumbers.org)

Abed El Hameed (Abood). Photo: Basman Derawi

I know my poem won’t
prevent the next bomb,
won’t even save itself,
from choking under the rubble.
So why do I write in the midst of a genocide?

Every time I ask myself this question,
the words of Nour Aldeen Hajjaj,
a young poet killed by Israeli missiles
that bombed his neighborhood
 of Al-Shuja’iya in December 2023,
echo in the space, penetrate to my soul:
“I do not consent to my death being passing news.”

I hear the voice of Dr. Refaat Alareer, reciting,
“If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story.”

I see the smiles of Essa and Ouda
enjoying our last tasha* on Gaza’s beach
when Essa beat Ouda again at cards
then we all enjoyed spicy grilled chicken,
its citrusy sumac flavor, while discussing
our dreams of studying for our Master’s
degree together, and traveling to Spain
to watch a soccer game live without having  
to stress our bladders during a long
exhausting circuitous journey.

I think of my friend, Abed El Hameed,
who I used to call Abood,
killed recently while going
to his job as a physiotherapist at
Médecins Sans Frontières in Deir Al Balah,
the so-called safe zone.
In addition to physiotherapy,
Abood was obsessed with history,
especially the history of Gaza,
its historical monuments,
like the Great Omari Mosque,
the Church of Saint Porphyrius,
Qasr al-Basha, that the occupier
has been hungry to erase.

I tell you the age of Eliaa, my nephew.
If the most moral army in the world
had let him live until next June,
when he would have turned four,
he could have told you himself.

I don’t write to humanize Essa, Ouda,
Nour, Refaat, Eliaa and Abood,
all passionate, resilient, caring human beings.
I write to prepare myself for our meeting.

*Tasha is when friends hang out together, enjoy their time, and have fun.

Editor’s note: Essa Fayez Essa and Ouda Al Haw are also commemorated in another of Basman’s poems, We will beat you next time. The full statement of Noor Aldeen Hajjaj is found at Passages through Genocide.

US Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) speaks during a news conference on October 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.

 (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Yes, let’s extend the ACA tax credits to prevent a huge spike in healthcare costs for millions,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen. “Then, let’s finally create a system that puts your health over corporate profits.”

Jake Johnson

Dec 02, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)

Democratic US Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Monday became the latest lawmaker to champion Medicare for All as the best solution to the country’s healthcare woes as tens of millions of Americans face soaring private insurance premiums.

In a social media post, Van Hollen (D-Md.) said that “we must stop tinkering around the edges of a broken healthcare system,” pointing to massive administrative costs and poor health outcomes under the for-profit status quo.

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“Yes, let’s extend the [Affordable Care Act] tax credits to prevent a huge spike in healthcare costs for millions,” said Van Hollen. “Then, let’s finally create a system that puts your health over corporate profits. We need Medicare for All.”

We must stop tinkering around the edges of a broken healthcare system.

Yes, let's extend the ACA tax credits to prevent a huge spike in healthcare costs for millions. Then, let's finally create a system that puts your health over corporate profits.

We need Medicare for All. pic.twitter.com/lszdO1vw2u

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) December 1, 2025

Van Hollen’s remarks came as lawmakers continued to negotiate a possible deal to extend enhanced ACA subsidies that are set to lapse at the end of the year, an outcome that would further drive up healthcare costs for millions.

Politico reported late Monday that most senators “believe the chances for a bipartisan breakthrough” before a planned vote next week “are roughly zero.”

“Instead, the most likely outcome is that Senate Democrats put up a bill that has little GOP support for a vote, if any, while Republicans offer a competing bill of their own,” the outlet noted. “And even those partisan proposals remained in flux as lawmakers returned to Washington from a weeklong recess.”

Neither side of the negotiations is offering much more than a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. Democratic leaders want a clean extension of the subsidies to avert catastrophic cost increases, while President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are demanding new restrictions on the ACA that would make the system worse.

A handful of progressive lawmakers have used the worsening US healthcare crisis to make the case for a fundamental overhaul, one that would replace the for-profit model with a Medicare for All system that guarantees coverage to everyone for free at the point of service—and at a lower overall cost than the current system.

Van Hollen is the newest Senate cosponsor of the Medicare for All Act, formally backing the legislation led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) just last month.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All Act in the House, expressed “100%” agreement with Van Hollen’s Monday post.

“Thank you, Chris Van Hollen!” Jayapal wrote.

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

Jake Johnson

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

Full Bio >

(TheOnion.com)

by Neil G. Ballard and Sage Ríos Mace December 2, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)

In September, we published an illustrated look back at how immigration enforcement changed in San Francisco during the nine months since President Donald Trump took office.

In the three months since, it’s changed again.

In the fall and winter, there have been fewer arrests in San Francisco, but also far fewer judges: The Trump administration has fired 12 of the city’s immigration judges, leaving its courts with only nine to hear more than 120,000 cases.

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Several city supervisors made a point to visit Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the city; one supervisor was denied entry.

Here’s what’s happened since September, as illustrated by Neil Ballard.

---

Sept. 8: ICE makes largest single-court arrest

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest eight Colombian asylum-seekers in what attorneys say was the largest single-morning arrest to date at San Francisco’s immigration court.

One woman nearly avoided arrest, but ICE agents intercepted her in the hallway, demanding her name. A social worker, accompanying the woman, asked to see their warrant, which agents later produced before arresting her.

Sept. 18:  ICE arrests another seven, two without lawyers

ICE arrests seven more people at 630 Sansome St. One Mexican woman, whose case was dismissed, was detained moments after her hearing. A family member who drove her to court said that on the drive she had been “so anxious that she turned pale.”

Sept. 19: Man with 10-by-12-inch tumor escapes ICE detention, for now

ICE arrests six asylum-seekers after federal attorneys moved to dismiss their cases. One man narrowly escapes arrest, saying he was in the Bay Area for medical treatment. 

Sept. 25: Supervisor Fielder visits immigration court, concerned over conditions

ICE arrests four more people following their immigration hearings, as District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder visits the court. Fielder says she is “concerned” by the ongoing arrests and pledges to secure additional funding for legal  services.

Sept. 26: ICE slams man against wall in mistaken arrest

ICE arrests three people. One man tells Judge Joseph Park, “I need more time. I am afraid to return to Venezuela,” but federal attorneys still move to dismiss his case. Later that morning, eyewitnesses say that ICE agents slammed another man, who had not received a motion to dismiss, against the hallway wall — before realizing they had the wrong person.

Oct. 10: Supervisor Dorsey tours ICE office, pledging aid for asylum-seekers

Supervisor Matt Dorsey visits the court and tours ICE’s sixth-floor holding facility. He, too, pledges to locate funding streams for immigration legal services and urges philanthropists and law firms to contribute funds.

Oct. 16: Supervisor Chyanne Chen also tours ICE facility as immigrants go into hiding

Supervisor Chyanne Chen tours the 630 Sansome St. immigration court and tours the sixth-floor ICE facility, saying the holding cells left her “deeply emotional.”

Oct. 23: Live updates: Trump announces, then scraps, federal push in San Francisco

Mission Local joins forces with El Tecolote to provide live reporting as Customs and Border Protection agents arrive at an Alameda Coast Guard base. By late morning, the federal surge is called off. By 3 p.m., the city announces an additional $3.5 million for immigrant legal defense and the Rapid Response Network. 

Oct. 29: ICE arrests decline sharply

Milli Atkinson, an attorney of the Bar Association of San Francisco, says no arrests had occurred at 630 Sansome St. since Oct. 3. Some attorneys believe that the sharp reduction may be tied to a series of successful habeas petitions filed on behalf of detained immigrants since August.

Oct. 31: Guards turn away San Francisco supervisor trying to tour ICE facility

District 4 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood attempts to tour the ICE office, but is denied entry until 10:30 a.m. But no one shows up  for morning hearings, a pattern local attorneys attribute to clients’ fear of courthouse arrests. 

Nov. 6: ICE arrests asylum-seeker at S.F. immigration court after weeks without detentions

After a sharp reduction in San Francisco’s courthouse arrests, ICE arrests one woman at 630 Sansome St. The woman had flown in from Texas for her 10:30 a.m. hearing and appeared without an attorney. 

Nov. 21: Five immigration judges are fired in Friday Night Massacre

Five immigration judges are fired in San Francisco. The Trump administration says it is now looking to hire “deportation judges.”

Only nine immigration judges remain in San Francisco, down from 21 earlier this year. The case backlog is the worst in the state.

Nov. 25: Federal court tells ICE to immediate improve conditions

After the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued ICE — alleging its San Francisco holding cells were frigid, filthy, and unfit for long-term stays — a federal court says the agency has to immediately improve conditions.

A judge writes that conditions are likely “unconstitutionally punitive in nature.”

Keep Mission Local free by making a tax-deductible donation today!

We have a big year-end goal: $300,000 by Dec. 31.

It’s more important than ever that everyone has access to news that reports, explains and keeps them informed. Paywalls don’t serve anyone. 

Your support makes it possible for Mission Local’s content to be forever free — for everyone.

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Latest on Immigration enforcement

S.F. has largest backlog of immigration cases in California. Here’s why.

Court orders ICE to immediately provide mattresses, blankets, medical care in S.F. holding cells  

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Neil G. Ballard

neilgballard@gmail.com

Neil G. Ballard is a cartoonist and muralist living and working in San Francisco, California.More by Neil G. Ballard

Sage Ríos Mace

sage@missionlocal.com

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

For the first time all year, arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions surpassed arrests of those with one

by Kelly Waldron December 2, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)

For the first time this year, almost half of the people being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Northern California have no criminal record, recent data shows. 

That data also reveals that ICE arrests across Northern California have more than tripled this year. 

A Mission Local analysis of data released from the Deportation Data Project, a group of researchers based at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that 48 percent of the people arrested by ICE across Northern California in September had no criminal background, while 39 percent had a criminal conviction. The remaining 14 percent had pending criminal charges. 

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That is a large spike from earlier months, when immigrants with either a criminal conviction or charges made up the majority of arrests in Northern California. September was the most recent full month for which data was available.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump pledged to deport the “worst of the worst,” but the latest numbers confirm that the administration’s crackdown continues to target an increasing share of people who have committed no crimes. Most recently, the president called for a permanent pause on all immigration from “third-world countries.” 

Across the country, about 74 percent of the people in ICE detention centers have no criminal history, according to the Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse from Syracuse University.

In October, Mission Local documented a decline in the number of arrests taking place at San Francisco’s immigration courthouse, where immigrants with pending asylum cases are required to show up for routine hearings. 

But overall, the total number of ICE arrests in Northern California, has more than tripled between Jan. 20 and Oct. 15, 2025, compared to the same period last year. Analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle published in September also found that deportations in California were up 78 percent compared to 2024. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ytdtE/1/

Those numbers are likely an undercount. For the “San Francisco Area of Responsibility,” which covers Northern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan, about 11 percent of the data published by ICE for 2025 did not specify the state where the arrest occurred and thus was excluded from the data we analyzed for arrests in Northern California. The data does not include arrests made by other agencies, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The latest data shows that a growing number of people are being detained at the short-term detention facility at 630 Sansome St. In September, 246 new detention stays were recorded at the “San Francisco Hold Room,” up 67 percent compared to the previous month. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ywORE/1/

Generally, immigrants are only held there for a few hours before being moved to a longer-term facility, although Mission Local previously found that at least 38 people were detained there longer than the recommended 12 hours. 

Keep Mission Local free by making a tax-deductible donation today!

We have a big year-end goal: $300,000 by Dec. 31.

It’s more important than ever that everyone has access to news that reports, explains and keeps them informed. Paywalls don’t serve anyone. 

Your support makes it possible for Mission Local’s content to be forever free — for everyone.

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Kelly Waldron

kelly@missionlocal.com

Find me looking at data. I studied Geography at McGill University and worked at a remote sensing company in Montreal, analyzing methane data, before turning to journalism and earning a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School.More by Kelly Waldron

• Google AI Overview

The “Nixonland trilogy” refers to a series of books by author 

Rick Perlstein that chronicles the rise of modern American conservatism, focusing on the political and cultural landscape of the late 1960s and 1970s. While Nixonland is the second book in the series, the term is sometimes used loosely to describe the first three titles: Before the Storm, Nixonland, and The Invisible Bridge. 

• Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus: The first book in the series, it examines the 1960s and how Barry Goldwater’s failed presidential campaign laid the groundwork for a future conservative movement.
• Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America: This is the second book, which details how Richard Nixon capitalized on social and cultural divisions to rise from political defeat and win the presidency in 1968.
• The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan: The third book covers the 1970s, focusing on the fall of the Nixon administration and the events that led to Ronald Reagan’s rise to power. 

Kayla Denker Mar 30, 2019 Biography and ideas of Karl Marx, from the BBC documentary series “Genius of the Modern World.”

(Contributed by Michael Kelly, H.W.)

By  THOMAS ADAMSON, November 21, 2025 (APNews.com)

Leer en español

PARIS (AP) — France’s government is taking action against billionaire Elon Musk ‘s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok after it generated French-language posts that questioned the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz, officials said.

Grok, built by Musk’s company xAI and integrated into his social media platform X, wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.

The Auschwitz Memorial highlighted the exchange on X, saying that the response distorted historical fact and violated the platform’s rules.

In later posts on its X account, the chatbot acknowledged that its earlier reply to an X user was wrong, said it had been deleted and pointed to historical evidence that Auschwitz’s gas chambers using Zyklon B were used to murder more than 1 million people. The follow-ups were not accompanied by any clarification from X.

In tests run by The Associated Press on Friday, its responses to questions about Auschwitz appeared to give historically accurate information.

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Grok has a history of making antisemitic comments. Earlier this year, Musk’s company took down posts from the chatbot that appeared to praise Adolf Hitler after complaints about antisemitic content.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that the Holocaust-denial comments have been added to an existing cybercrime investigation into X. The case was opened earlier this year after French officials raised concerns that the platform’s algorithm could be used for foreign interference.

Prosecutors said that Grok’s remarks are now part of the investigation, and that “the functioning of the AI will be examined.”

France has one of Europe’s toughest Holocaust denial laws. Contesting the reality or genocidal nature of Nazi crimes can be prosecuted as a crime, alongside other forms of incitement to racial hatred.

Several French ministers, including Industry Minister Roland Lescure, have also reported Grok’s posts to the Paris prosecutor under a provision that requires public officials to flag possible crimes. In a government statement, they described the AI-generated content as “manifestly illicit,” saying it could amount to racially motivated defamation and the denial of crimes against humanity.

French authorities referred the posts to a national police platform for illegal online content and alerted France’s digital regulator over suspected breaches of the European Union’s Digital Services Act.

The case adds to pressure from Brussels. This week, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said that the bloc is in contact with X about Grok and called some of the chatbot’s output “appalling,” saying it runs against Europe’s fundamental rights and values.

Two French rights groups, the Ligue des droits de l’Homme and SOS Racisme, have filed a criminal complaint accusing Grok and X of contesting crimes against humanity.

X and its AI unit, xAI, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

THOMAS ADAMSON

Adamson is a foreign reporter based in Paris for The Associated Press. He covers European politics, culture and style. He has reported across the continent in an over two-decade career.