S.F. advocates vow to fight ICE arrests at Bay Area courthouses
Immigrant-rights advocates rallied Wednesday to voice deep concerns about the recent arrests of asylum-seekers by federal officers at Bay Area courthouses.
Standing outside of the San Francisco immigration courthouse on the corner of Montgomery and Sutter streets, advocates and protesters demanded that San Francisco officials denounce the arrests and provide more resources for legal protection, such as the SF Rapid Response Network hotline. Demonstrators held signs that read 'Hands off immigrants' and 'Abolish ICE,' and drivers passing by honked their horns in apparent support.
Federal officials sought 'to undermine due process and to intimidate our immigrant communities into missing their court appointments and putting themselves at further risk of deportation,' said Sanika Mahajan, director of community engagement and organizing at Mission Action.
'We will stand up and fight back,' she added.
Homeland Security officials have apparently ramped up enforcement at immigration courts throughout the country over the last week. Advocates say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have appeared outside of courthouses and in hallways to arrest people showing up to their scheduled hearings.
Homeland Security spokespersons did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A statement from the Department of Homeland Security provided by an ICE spokesperson said the agency was 'reversing Biden's catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.'
Richard Beam, a spokesperson for ICE, said the agency did not 'have specifics' on the arrests Tuesday, but acknowledged that the agency was 'doing targeted enforcement at immigration courts.'
While arrests at courthouses are rare, advocates say, ICE appears to be using the new strategy to accelerate deportations and meet President Donald Trump's goal of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.
The first arrests in San Francisco immigration court were reported Tuesday. ICE officers arrested four men outside of courtrooms after judges rejected motions from Department of Homeland Security lawyers who requested that their asylum cases be dismissed, said Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program with the San Francisco Bar Association's Justice and Diversity Center.
In Concord, three people were arrested Tuesday and one person was arrested last week, said Lisa Knox, co-executive director at California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice in Oakland.
Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, a deputy defender with the San Francisco Public Defender's Office's immigration unit, called the immigration courthouse arrests a fear tactic.
'They're doing this to instill fear in the immigrant community,' Savalza said.
Atkinson called on government officials, attorneys and concerned residents to speak up for immigrants and volunteer for organizations providing resources to immigrant communities.
'Who has the power?' Atkinson asked the protesters.
'We have the power!' they responded.
Molly Burke contributed to this report.
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