Immigration agents clashed with protesters, who were trying to stop an arrest, in San Francisco’s most violent ICE encounter of 2025
Federal immigration agents clashed with around 20 protestors outside the San Francisco’s immigration courthouse on Tuesday morning, trying to stop them from blocking the building’s entrance with their bodies and bikes.
Agents used pepper spray, shoved people to the ground, and, in one instance, brandished a rifle. A black SUV carrying a detained immigrant sped through half a dozen protesters crowded near its front. A woman holding onto its hood was thrown off.
The clash started at 11:18 a.m. on Tuesday when around 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, almost all with faces covered, tried to enter the courthouse at 100 Montgomery St. They were there to escort other agents already inside, who had a young immigrant man in custody.
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ICE has been routinely arresting asylum-seekers following their immigration hearings, and anti-ICE protesters had gathered at the courthouse that morning, as they said they’ve been doing every Tuesday.
The agents struggled for over a minute to open the building’s front doo when protesters formed a chain across its entrance.
ICE agents, several of whom appeared to be the same officers who fought with protesters two weeks ago, screamed “Fuck you!” and “Get back!” while pushing protesters with their batons. They jostled over bicycles people were using to block the entrance, as high-pitched screams rang out. Protesters wearing keffiyehs shouted “Fuck you puto!” — using the Spanish word for “bitch” — before swarming onto the ICE agents exiting the building with the handcuffed man.
Protesters tried to grab the man and pull him away from officers, but were tossed back by the ICE agents. As police pulled the man back into a waiting black SUV and began driving away, protesters jumped onto the van’s front hood.
A half-dozen protesters blocked the van by amassing in front of it. The van inched forward, indifferent, before gaining speed and driving off quickly. One protester, still lying on the hood of the car, fell off the car’s hood half a block away and was almost run over. “Oh shit!” one protester screamed, seeing her fall. “Jesus Christ.”
There have been several clashes between protesters and ICE agents this year in San Francisco but this was the most violent here to date.
The arrest of the man at immigration court was confirmed by Milli Atkinson, an immigration specialist with the Bar Association of San Francisco. Lawyers with the Rapid Response Network are responding, Atkinson said.
Federal agents then proceeded to walk the eight blocks back to ICE headquarters at 630 Sansome St., as protesters dogged them and chanted “ICE out of the Bay.” Several San Francisco police officers, who had gathered at the immigration courthouse earlier that morning, walked behind the group.
One protester rode alongside the moving convoy on his bike, yelling “ICE out the Bay!” and “You should be ashamed of yourselves!” as onlookers at every street and adjoining coffee shop stopped what they did to watch the moving brawl.
An ICE agent, wearing a light gray shirt beneath his vest, pepper sprayed one protester at Market and Montgomery streets. The man quickly collapsed, and others gathered around him holding his head up and pouring water over his face, telling him not to touch his eyes.
The agent who used the pepper spray then appeared to be held back by his colleagues, as they kept walking back to ICE headquarters. He stared down a protester in a red keffiyeh for blocks of the walk who was saying “You’re a traitor” and “Your parents were immigrants, asshole.”
Protesters screamed, “Your grandchildren are going to learn not to be like you.” At one point, an ICE agent addressed a protester, saying “Just keep a distance. We get it alright, we get it.” A protestor responded, “If you get it, why are you doing this.”
“You know that’s not what I meant,” the agent said.
At 11:50 a.m., just a block away from ICE headquarters where half a dozen agents were still surrounded by a similar number of protesters, an agent warned protesters that they could be arrested. He then moved forward and tried to arrest two protesters, pushing them into a wall.
Another uniformed ICE agent stepped out of an unmarked police van at 11:53 a.m. and pointed a matte black rifle at protestors and press, including this reporter, screaming “Get the fuck back!” An SFPD officer stood by and watched from a distance.
The crowd backed off after managing to free protesters held by agents. One ICE officer yelled, “We’ll get you next time!” while walking backward.
The ICE agents retreated the following block, and entered 630 Sansome St. Outside, a line of approximately 20 people had gathered, for immigration check-ins and removal court hearings. They stared at protesters and agents, largely silent.
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FRANKIE SOLINSKY DURYEA
Intern. Frankie was born and raised in Burlingame but currently attends Princeton University where he studies comparative literature and journalism. He likes taking photos on his grandpa’s old film camera, walking anywhere with tall trees, and listening to loud music.More by Frankie Solinsky Duryea
