‘Very scared' immigrants continue to answer ICE summons as protesters target S.F. building
Dozens of protesters returned Sunday to a nondescript, two-story white building in an alleyway in San Francisco's South of Market where Bay Area residents working to legalize their immigration status were summoned by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this weekend.
Activists suspected a trap and brought immigration attorneys to counsel confused immigrants and their families who feared violating the terms of their conditional release if they failed to show and arrest if they did appear. So far, the office has remained locked and closed, as protesters chanted and banged drums at the Tehama Street building.
'People were very scared and very panicked,' said Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, a San Francisco deputy public defender. 'It's very irregular to receive a last minute message to report on a weekend. In my 10 years of practicing, I've never heard of reporting on a weekend.'
Savalza and other attorneys, most volunteering their time, said Saturday they assisted more than 50 participants in the Alternatives to Detention or Intensive Supervision Appearance Program. About 7.6 million immigrants participate in the program, which allows them to live at home as their cases are processed, according to ICE figures from October.
Four program participants who received similar text messages were arrested after reporting to the ISAP office in Fresno on Saturday, Savalza said.
'We have a very strong reason to believe that our mobilization and support stopped ICE from detaining people at the office yesterday,' Sanika Mahajan, an organizer from Mission Action, said Sunday.
ICE officials did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday.
The mysterious weekend reporting requests coincided with massive No Kings Day marches and rallies in San Francisco and nationwide in response to a growing opposition movement to President Donald Trump as he pushes to deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
The text messages, sent in Spanish, told recipients to report to the Tehama Street facility during business hours Saturday or Sunday.
'If you do not present yourself according to instructions it will be considered an infraction,' the messages read.
Savalza said attorneys have counseled immigrants who went to the facility to inform their reporting officer and to verify their arrival with a photo at the location. Immigrants continued to show up Sunday, though it remained locked in the morning.
Protesters circled in front of the front door, chanting and holding signs, such as 'I.C.E. Out the Bay.' Anti-ICE graffiti remained on the walls from the day before.
In the past, ICE protests have focused on more high-profile buildings such as the field office on Sansome Street and the San Francisco Immigration Court on Montgomery Street.
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