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by\u00a0ABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY<\/a><\/strong> August 21, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Several](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ICE-0820-10-780x585.jpg\")
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Help grow our newsroom<\/strong>, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by giving below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate today!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal agents arrested a protester outside the San Francisco immigration court on Wednesday and charged the protester with two federal misdemeanors: Destruction of property and assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bay Area attorneys say this is the first time they can remember Department of Homeland Security authorities filing such charges filed against a citizen in San Francisco. While protesters have been charged by federal agents in Los Angeles, moving the practice north is a sign of \u201cescalation,\u201d said Angela Chan, the city\u2019s assistant chief public defender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The protester, a U.S. citizen who asked to be identified by her first name, Ang\u00e9lica, was arrested around 10 a.m. yesterday during a chaotic street scene: Video showed ICE agents tackling<\/a> several protesters to the ground after a crowd tried to stop ICE from transporting an asylum-seeker whom agents had arrested that morning. <\/p>\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 Ang\u00e9lica allegedly had a knife, slashed the front left tire of an ICE van, and threatened an agent, according to prosecutors\u2019 complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was one of those filmed being zip-tied and led away, her head wrapped in a keffiyeh and held down by officers. Ang\u00e9lica, a trans woman from an immigrant family, was brought into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters at 630 Sansome St. without a cellphone, her partner, Renee, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A day passed before her family heard from Ang\u00e9lica again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Holding a citizen at an ICE building is \u201cunheard of,\u201d Chan said. Earlier this month, ICE agents detained<\/a> two protesters in downtown San Francisco for the first time in recent memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Supporters spent the rest of Wednesday checking the inmate logs of every jail in the area, Renee said, trying to find Ang\u00e9lica. The gym Ang\u00e9lica works at in Oakland closed to let her co-workers join the search. One supporter reached out to Nancy Pelosi\u2019s office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Around midnight, Renee said, Ang\u00e9lica\u2019s name finally appeared on a list of people held at Santa Rita jail in Alameda County. Ang\u00e9lica told family members that there was no access to a phone or an attorney in the holding cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ang\u00e9lica said the sheriff\u2019s deputies appeared confused: They did not seem to know what to do with someone brought over by federal agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At 7 a.m. on Thursday, Ang\u00e9lica\u2019s name disappeared from the Santa Rita logs, Renee said. Two hours later, Ang\u00e9lica\u2019s supporters learned that she was scheduled to appear at the federal courthouse at 450 Golden Gate Ave. at 10:30 a.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike most defendants who are arrested on federal charges, Ang\u00e9lica was never in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, and was brought to Santa Rita instead by officers with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE. ICE officers also took Ang\u00e9lica to federal court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ang\u00e9lica, a born and raised San Franciscan, was represented by federal public defender Samantha Jaffe, who declined to comment. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim ordered Ang\u00e9lica be released until a pending court date in September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ICE agents can make arrests only in \u201cextremely specific circumstances<\/a>,\u201d Chan said. \u201cThey must witness a federal felony offense in front of them while engaging in immigration-related enforcement and have completed requisite training.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ang\u00e9lica has been ordered to stay away from the immigration courts at 100 Montgomery St. and 630 Sansome St. Federal prosecutors had requested an order to keep Ang\u00e9lica from all federal buildings and officers, Renee said, but Judge Kim noted that this would be impractical \u2014 Ang\u00e9lica has to attend her own hearings, after all, and federal agents aren\u2019t always visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her case has caused an outcry among labor, immigrant, queer and trans community groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSEIU 1021 members were outraged to learn that Ang\u00e9lica, a U.S. citizen and the child of one of our own members, was violently arrested by ICE in San Francisco while exercising her First Amendment rights,\u201d wrote Theresa Rutherford, the president of the service employees\u2019 union. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Renee said that Ang\u00e9lica was \u201cstanding up for all the things the mayor says he supports, but has been silent on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re a small, independent, nonprofit newsroom<\/strong> that works hard to bring you news you can’t get elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2025, we have a lofty goal: 5,000 donors by the end of the year \u2014 more than double the number we had last year. We are 20 percent of the way there: Donate today and help us reach our goal!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate!<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n abigail@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Abigail covers criminal justice, accountability, and behavioral health. She’s originally from New York City, where she was a youth advocate and watched hundreds of arraignments. Now, she enjoys foggy San Francisco mornings with her cat, Sally Carrera. (Yes, the shelter did in fact name the cat after the Porsche from the animated movie Cars.)More by Abigail V\u00e2n Neely<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bay Area attorneys could not remember similar charges filed against an ICE protester before by\u00a0ABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY August 21, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) Read Mission Local often? Help grow our newsroom, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by giving below. Donate today! Federal agents arrested a protester outside the San… Continue reading ![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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MORE ON IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT<\/mark><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nICE pepper sprays protesters and press at S.F. immigration court<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nICE makes unusual arrest of indigenous woman in S.F. immigration court<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n