{"id":43704,"date":"2025-09-06T12:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=43704"},"modified":"2025-09-06T12:11:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:11:15","slug":"ice-arrests-three-at-s-f-immigration-court-including-man-trying-to-self-deport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/06\/ice-arrests-three-at-s-f-immigration-court-including-man-trying-to-self-deport\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE arrests three at S.F. immigration court, including man trying to self-deport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screen-Shot-2025-08-18-at-3.37.45-PM.png 2x\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" src=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screen-Shot-2025-08-18-at-3.37.45-PM.png\" alt=\"A woman with long dark hair, wearing a white top and blue and yellow graduation stole, smiles in an outdoor setting with blurred greenery in the background.\"> by\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/author\/mariana\/\">MARIANA GARCIA<\/a><\/strong> September 5, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/082625_MMG_SansomePrayerVigil-03-780x570.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people hold flowers and protest signs, including one that says \u201cNO DEPORTATIONS\u201d and another advocating to keep families together.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Protestors hold signs reading &#8220;No deportations&#8221; and &#8220;Protect our neighbors, Keep families together&#8221; at an interfaith prayer vigil on Aug. 26, 2025. The vigil took place in front of the immigration court building at 630 Sansome St. Photo by Mariana Garcia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ICE-0820-1-854x640.jpg\" alt=\"Law enforcement officers detain a person on the ground during an operation on a city street.\" class=\"wp-image-781725\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-help-mission-local-cover-ice\">Help Mission Local cover ICE<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve been covering immigration enforcement intensely under Trump. Now, we\u2019re seeking&nbsp;<strong>$300,000<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 $100,000 a year for the rest of Trump\u2019s term \u2014&nbsp;<strong>to hire a full-time immigration<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>reporter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/?form=immigration-reporter\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three individuals were arrested following their immigration court hearings on Friday morning in downtown San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two young men, one from Colombia and the other from Peru, were arrested following a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2025\/06\/expedited-removal-s-f-immigration-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">motion to dismiss<\/a>&nbsp;their cases, a tactic used by the Department of Homeland Security attorneys to fast-track deportations. Even if the judge rejects the motion, immigrants are still arrested. The third, a Colombian man, asked Judge Joseph Park to let him self-deport. He was granted a \u201cvoluntary departure\u201d order, but ICE arrested him anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first man who was detained, a 26-year-old from Colombia, had driven from Illinois to California two days before his hearing. He has been in the United States for a year and a half, originally residing in San Jose before moving to Illinois, where he worked as a graphic designer. He had filed an application for asylum in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Mission Local logo, with blue and orange lines on the shape of the Mission District\" class=\"wp-image-639216\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our&nbsp;<strong>free daily newsletter<\/strong>&nbsp;below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Department of Homeland Security attorney motioned to dismiss his case, citing a \u201cchange of circumstance.\u201d Park did not grant the motion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the man returned to the courtroom benches, attorney of the day Brittney Rezaei gathered the emergency contact information of a friend who had driven him to court that morning, and informed him what would happen on exiting the courtroom. Sure enough, four ICE agents were waiting on the other side of the door. They promptly arrested him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside of the court building, the man\u2019s friend, an older woman from Colombia, was waiting for him to return. She has known the man since he was a young boy and had driven him to his hearing from her home in Salinas earlier that morning. With tears in her eyes, she asked in Spanish, \u201cWhy is this happening?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/082625_MMG_SansomePrayerVigil-05-1-930x635.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-784892\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Protesters hold signs that read, \u201cKeep families together\u201d at an interfaith prayer vigil on Aug. 26, 2025. The vigil, organized by mothers, grandmothers, and godmothers of deported loved ones, was held in front of the immigration court at 630 Sansome St. Photo by Mariana Garcia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Following his arrest, two men were called before the judge in a group removal proceeding. One was an older man from Colombia, the other was a 21-year-old from Peru. They did not know each other.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Park asked the Colombian if he was fearful of returning to his home country, the man desperately looked back at Rezaei in the audience, as if to see how he should answer. He hesitated and then responded no. The DHS attorney signaled a motion to dismiss the man\u2019s case, citing that the man did not fear returning to his home country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The man then made a comment to Judge Park, saying that he had already booked a flight back to Colombia in December out of fear that he would be involuntarily deported. Park asked the man if he would like to be granted a \u201cvoluntary departure\u201d order. Yes, he said. Park granted the order, giving the man until Jan. 5, 2026 to return to Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After this, the DHS attorney signaled a motion to dismiss the young Peruvian man\u2019s case. Once again, Park did not approve the motion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two men then met with two so-called attorneys-of-the-day who provide free legal counsel. They huddled with the lawyers in the back of the courtroom, calling loved ones and informing them that they were about to be detained. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be deported, I don\u2019t want to be held in a cell,\u201d said the older Colombian man. Despite his official voluntary departure order, ICE agents arrested both him and the Peruvian man in the hallway outside the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attorneys they spoke with in court were already in contact with their offices where people were actively working on filing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2025\/08\/habeas-corpus-petitions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">habeas corpus petitions&nbsp;<\/a>for all three individuals. Such filings challenge the detentions and have been effective in getting those detained released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although several families and individuals were scheduled to appear in court Friday morning, a number did not show up. In addition to avoiding ICE, this may have been the result of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2025\/09\/bart-is-down-in-san-francisco-and-the-peninsula\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">systemwide BART delays<\/a>&nbsp;across the entire region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0MARIANA GARCIA September 5, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) Help Mission Local cover ICE We\u2019ve been covering immigration enforcement intensely under Trump. Now, we\u2019re seeking&nbsp;$300,000&nbsp;\u2014 $100,000 a year for the rest of Trump\u2019s term \u2014&nbsp;to hire a full-time immigration&nbsp;reporter. Donate Three individuals were arrested following their immigration court hearings on Friday morning in&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/06\/ice-arrests-three-at-s-f-immigration-court-including-man-trying-to-self-deport\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/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":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43705,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43704\/revisions\/43705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}