On Sunday night, two federal immigration agents in plain clothes tackled a woman to the ground and arrested her in Terminal 3 of San Francisco International Airport. Video captured by numerous bystanders show a young girl weeping as she watches her mother struggle; others nearby demand the officers reveal their identities and badges.
The anger in the air at SFO is palpable: “I hope you’re so fucking proud of yourselves,” one man tells the agents as they drag the woman and stuff her into a wheelchair. “Shame on you!”
In the videos, the two agents don’t do anything to address who they are and eventually get surrounded by a cadre of San Francisco Police Department officers, who appear to be shielding the agents from the public.
There’s only one thing I can conclude after witnessing this, and covering ICE operations in San Francisco since the summer: This is not a sanctuary city, no matter what statements the city posts.
On Monday, Mayor Daniel Lurie took to social media to address the violent detainment at SFO, calling it “upsetting.”
“I have spoken to leaders at SFO and SFPD, and we believe this is an isolated incident. We have no reason to believe there is broader federal immigration enforcement at SFO,” Lurie wrote on X.
“SFPD officers remained at the scene to maintain public safety and were not involved in the incident. Under our city's longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement,” Lurie continued, concluding that “those policies keep us safe” and “will not change” as long as he is mayor.
Watching the videos captured from multiple angles, would a reasonable person deem a squad of uniformed SFPD officers standing in what amounts to a defensive circle around an unexplained, violent detainment by men who refuse to show their badges to be the definition of “does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement”?
I can’t say, but it sure doesn’t feel like the actions of city employees upholding the agreements of a sanctuary city.
Because San Francisco is not a sanctuary city.
“We understand federal officers were transporting two individuals on an outbound flight when this incident occurred,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel said in an email to Gazetteer SF. (It’s worth noting one of those individuals was a kid.)
Yakel then echoed Lurie’s take that the arrest was an “isolated incident” with no further “reason to suspect broader enforcement action at SFO.”
“We were not involved in or notified in advance of this incident. Airport operations continued without disruption, and there was no impact to flights or passenger processing,” Yakel said.
Yakel did not respond by press time to follow-up questions about why the detainment turned violent if it was indeed a “routine” transport. He also did not respond to questions about whether SFO policy requires advance notice of federal immigration enforcement in its facilities.
Does SFO feel safe for immigrants, given this “isolated” attack?
No, because San Francisco is not a sanctuary city.
These videos are deeply troubling for anyone, but I had a particular memory watching them. I remembered the looks SFPD officers gave me last summer, when I was out interviewing anti-ICE protesters at ICE headquarters at 630 Sansome St. A patrol SUV rolled by at slow speed, with an officer grinning wide and waving while filming the group.
It didn’t mean anything to me, until it did, like when SFPD officers assaulted a peaceful anti-ICE protestor in June and claimed he’d tried to steal an officer’s weapon; a San Francisco judge dismissed all charges in October.
In December, when an interfaith coalition of anti-ICE protesters chained themselves to block access to 630 Sansome, it wasn’t federal officers who cut the chains: It was firefighters from the San Francisco Fire Department, who then watched as federal agents arrested 44 people and dragged them away.
Meanwhile, where were the authorities when multiple people got assaulted by federal agents at a protest outside SF Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery in August 2025? That group included this reporter, who was blasted with pepper gel by an ICE agent while recording him and was left blinded on the ground outside the entrance of the Four Seasons. Several protestors came to my aid; I didn’t get any help from the officers who swore an oath to serve and protect me and my neighbors.
National and local organizations rushed to document my account. Strangers reached out to see how I was doing after the attack. Lurie and the local authorities? Not a single peep.
Because San Francisco is not a sanctuary city.
Detainments of all manner of immigrants, many of them in the legal process of gaining asylum and green-card status, are continuing in San Francisco, according to a recent report from Mission Local. With the immigration court at 100 Montgomery set to shutter by 2027, people in San Francisco will have less opportunity to observe and assist immigrants, including by accompanying them to and from their hearings, making them more vulnerable to physical harm and detainment.
Because San Francisco is not a sanctuary city.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has been silent since October, instead traveling the country to stump for billionaires. That stands in stark contrast to other top cops in American cities, like District Attorney Larry Krasner of Philadelphia, who is leading a public charge to prosecute ICE agents. SFPD Police Chief Derrick Lew has been quiet since his comments in July that SFPD needs to protect federal agents sometimes.
Meanwhile, the SF Public Defender’s Office has asked members of the public to report potential misconduct and assisting of ICE by local police.
Was Sunday’s ring-around-the-rosie of cops blocking federal agents from public intervention as they violently detained a mother in front of her child an example of SFPD aiding ICE?
We’ll probably never get a straight answer, because San Francisco is not a sanctuary city.
