The San Francisco Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters shut down on Tuesday afternoon, after about 30 protesters attempted to block the transfer of at least two immigrants who had been arrested in Concord that morning.
Just before 3 p.m., ICE agents and federal police stood inside the building’s doors putting up “Closed” signs. Protesters had amassed around the northern gate of the headquarters at 630 Sansome St. at 1:58 p.m. as an escorted, unmarked, tinted white van reversed through the building’s rising garage door.
Advocates said the van was loading immigrants arrested in Concord into holding cells inside.
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The crowd filmed the mask-clad men — who were with ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the private security company G4S — and shouted “Fuck you Nazis!” and “Get out of our fucking city!” as the agents backed the van into the headquarters.
Several unmarked cars escorted by federal police then drove down the street, and about 10 federal officers began scuffling with protesters to clear a path, pushing them back with batons. Protesters threw cones into the vehicles’ paths and attempted to keep them from driving off.
At least one protester claims to have been hit on the head with a police baton, as agents held onto and pushed back those gathered, forming a path. The federal vehicles drove off and protesters began pushing the agents back to the ICE office. One agent yelled “Get the fuck back!” while retreating, unsheathing a baton. Another took out a riot shield.
The crowd yelled “Fuck you!” and “Go back to your pigpen!”
Protesters had gathered slowly over the course of the previous hour after news of immigrants detained in Concord spread through organizing circles.
Milli Atkinson, the director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the Bar Association of San Francisco, confirmed that two immigrants had been detained in Concord and subsequently transferred to the ICE processing facility at 630 Sansome.
According to Sanika Mahajan, an organizer with Mission Action and the Rapid Response Network, the arrests in Concord happened around 10 a.m. Calls to organize around the San Francisco ICE headquarters were sent out around noon.
At one point, a protester filmed Mayor Daniel Lurie stepping out of his black Rivian a half block from the ICE office, asking him if he’d join the crowd outside 630 Sansome.
“Are you going to do anything about the ICE abductions happening?” the protester asks. “Do you want to talk to me or do you want to film me?” Lurie responds, before saying he is in touch with the Rapid Response Network. After a brief exchange, Lurie walks away.
Lurie has been reticent to take on President Donald Trump directly, but has acknowledged the “tremendous anxiety” felt in immigrant communities across the city.
Shortly after the confrontation, a number of employees appeared to exit the ICE building. Around 20 protesters began picketing the front entrance at approximately 2:40 p.m., chanting slogans of “ICE, ICE, get out the Bay! Get out the Bay, get out the Bay!” The agents inside the building then put up the “Closed” signs.
By 3:10 p.m., their demonstration ended and protesters began dispersing.
Mission Local has documented more than two dozen people arrested by ICE in San Francisco in recent weeks — a vast undercount, immigration attorneys say.
Tuesday’s arrests came two weeks after four others were detained at San Francisco’s immigration courthouse at 100 Montgomery St., and another 15 were detained there two weeks before that. During one of those actions, on June 10, protesters shut down the immigration court.
Though no arrests had been reported at court on Tuesday, several protesters were mobilizing to 100 Montgomery building after 3 p.m., to be sure.
