{"id":44211,"date":"2025-09-27T12:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T19:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44211"},"modified":"2025-09-27T12:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T19:32:11","slug":"supervisor-fielder-visits-s-f-immigration-court-concerned-over-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/27\/supervisor-fielder-visits-s-f-immigration-court-concerned-over-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Supervisor Fielder visits S.F. immigration court, concerned over conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ICE arrested four more immigrants outside the courtroom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A by\u00a0SAGE R\u00cdOS MACE<\/a><\/strong> September 26, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People
An immigration line forms in front of the 630 Sansome St. immigration court on Sept. 18 of 2025. Photo by Sage Rios Mace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder walked out of the elevator on the sixth floor at 630 Sansome St.<\/a> on Thursday morning and through the security checkpoint to become the first San Francisco supervisor to visit the immigrant detention facility since the Trump administration began its immigration crackdown<\/a> this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters, where immigrants are processed after being arrested across Northern California, including from the courtrooms below, was nearly empty. The only visible ICE official was sitting behind the front desk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICE began routinely detaining<\/a> asylum-seekers on the sixth floor in June and Fielder has long decried the arrests. On Thursday, she was joined by Jennifer Friedman, a San Francisco deputy public defender; Milli Atkinson<\/a>, director of the Bar Association of San Francisco\u2019s immigration team; and three journalists (including Mission Local). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All visited one of the waiting rooms, a small, grey and barren space, with a low-hanging ceiling. It was split by a glass divider. Telephones hung on the wall. On the attorney\u2019s side of the glass divider were two metal stools bolted to the floor. The rooms are designed to accommodate four attorneys and four clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that many people are hardly ever in there, Friedman said. Moreover, she said, some of the telephones do not work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fielder was allowed to walk unaccompanied into the waiting rooms, but ICE officials did not allow her inside the actual detention area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a lawsuit<\/a> alleging that some detainees have been held on the sixth floor for as long as six days at a time without access to adequate hygiene, medical attention or sleeping facilities. Conditions, they allege, are \u201cpunitive and inhumane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACLU also alleged that ICE forced asylum-seekers to pay for phone calls with \u201cpoor audio quality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fielder said she is \u201cconcerned\u201d about detention conditions and pledged to advocate for more funding towards immigration services. She also pointed out that Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s newest fund for immigration<\/a> \u2014 which is aimed to support the family members of those detained \u2014 is \u201cset up for emergency purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More money, she said, is needed to strengthen immigration services at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedman said that ICE only lets people from one detention area into the waiting room at a time. If a detainee from the women\u2019s section is using the room to consult with her attorney, no one from the men\u2019s detention area is allowed in until they are finished \u2014 and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oftentimes, pro-bono attorneys arrive ready to meet with clients, but can\u2019t because of this rule. Friedman said, \u201cSometimes we have more lawyers than those able to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In detention cases, time and efficiency is everything, according to Friedman. Attorneys are currently trying to meet with clients while juggling an unprecedented number of cases. \u201cThere is a real capacity need here and we\u2019ve been scrambling to meet it,\u201d Friedman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal aid provided by the Bar Association, said Atkinson, is incredibly cost-effective: Dozens of habeas corpus petitions<\/a> have been filed since August to release asylum-seekers from detention, says Atkinson. All of them have been successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Atkinson said, each habeas petition normally requires a team of four to five to file the petition and to follow a case to its end. Due to the high volume, volunteer attorneys are taking on multiple cases. \u201cOne attorney did four or five petitions back-to-back\u201d Atkinson said, \u2014but it was too much to sustain. \u201cShe had to tap out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLawyers are incredibly overwhelmed,\u201d Fielder said. \u201cA lot of them are burnt out.\u201d Atkinson agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s not sustainable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier that day, before the group entered the sixth floor, Fielder told Mission Local<\/em>: \u201cI hope the board can provide more funding for the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative.\u201d She added that the \u201cattorney of the day program is extremely underfunded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only moments before, Fielder saw the couple who would be sent into detention. She sat in Judge Patrick S. O\u2019Brien\u2019s courtroom as an immigration hearing unfolded and watched an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security move to dismiss<\/a> their cases. O\u2019Brien instead scheduled their next hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as often happens, O\u2019Brien\u2019s attempts to allow for due process were ignored. Two ICE officers, wearing surgical masks, waited outside. They handcuffed the pair, as they often do<\/a>, while a third officer without a mask read aloud their rights. The woman, seemingly in her early 20s, began to silently cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supervisor departed before the second hearing at 10:30 a.m. when two more men were arrested despite the judge scheduling their next hearings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the two men stepped outside the courtroom, ICE agents handcuffed them before escorting them out of eyesight and up to the sixth floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help us cover ICE in San Francisco<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mission Local has been covering immigration enforcement in San Francisco day in and day out \u2014 on the streets and in the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Trump administration invests $170 billion in ICE<\/strong>, we want to make an investment of our own: $300,000 \u2014 $100,000 a year for Trump’s remaining three years \u2014 to hire a full-time immigration reporter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE ON IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT<\/mark><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"ICE<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ICE slams man against wall in mistaken arrest at S.F. immigration court<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"How<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How can you prepare if you or a loved one are detained by ICE?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inside ICE\u2019s crackdown in San Francisco: An illustrated timeline<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SAGE R\u00cdOS MACE<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

sage@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 R\u00edos Mace<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ICE arrested four more immigrants outside the courtroom by\u00a0SAGE R\u00cdOS MACE September 26, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder walked out of the elevator on the sixth floor at 630 Sansome St. on Thursday morning and through the security checkpoint to become the first San Francisco supervisor to visit the immigrant… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44211"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44212,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44211\/revisions\/44212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}