On Wednesday, a coalition of community groups and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office filed a complaint and requested public records to investigate whether the San Francisco Police Department violated the city’s sanctuary ordinance by shielding ICE agents at San Francisco International Airport.
Federal immigration agents descended on a mother and her child in Terminal 3 on Sunday night, forcefully detaining Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, 41, as her nine-year-old daughter Wendy Godinez-Lopez cried for help. Videos from bystanders show a crowd of people gathering to document and decry the arrest; later, a group of SFPD officers arrive and stand around the ICE agents as they drag Lopez-Jimenez away in a wheelchair.
The Free SF coalition, which includes the Public Defender’s Office and advocacy groups such as the Asian Law Caucus and Centro Legal de la Raza, believes that SFPD’s response crossed legal boundaries. The group held a rally at SFPD’s Mission Bay headquarters Wednesday, urging members of the public to also file complaints on the spot.
Angela Chan, the assistant chief attorney at the Public Defender’s Office, told Gazetteer SF that she is not aware of a precedent at SFO involving a violent ICE arrest. Chan noted, however, there are prior examples of SFPD officers “acting like lookouts or security for ICE,” including by patrolling, filming protesters, and standing watch at anti-ICE rallies last summer.
Chan said she raised the issue last year with then-SFPD Interim Chief Paul Yep, who told her that there was no shift in officer policy and the department had not aided ICE.
“But just because you’re not actually conducting an immigration arrest doesn’t mean you’re not assisting. You’re not protecting the public. You’re protecting ICE,” Chan said. “That’s what is happening when [SFPD] is in patrol cars watching protesters, and that’s what happened at SFO.”
Meanwhile, SFPD again claimed in a Tuesday statement on social media that it did not break any sanctuary policies, but rather just responded to a 911 call from SFO.
“SFPD officers were not involved in the incident but remained at the scene to maintain public safety. SFPD has a large presence and is responsible for public safety at the airport,” the statement read.
The Free SF coalition is now demanding that SFPD hand over all communications between the department and ICE, the federal Department of Homeland Security, SFO officials, and other involved parties. Chan is especially interested in the 911 call that SFPD responded to, because it will reveal whether there was cause for SFPD to arrive in force at the airport.
Chan referenced a 2020 department general order that states police should only engage with immigration enforcement when there is an emergency.
“And that is defined as significant, imminent danger to the public or to an ICE agent. SFPD can only assist with the emergency, not the enforcement. And under the [general order], there needs to be a supervisor who is continually monitoring the situation and pulling officers out when it’s no longer an emergency,” Chan said. “There was no public safety issue from the videos I saw.”
More details about the context of the arrest are still emerging. SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told Gazetteer on Monday that federal agents were “transporting two individuals on an outbound flight,” but new reporting from the New York Times show that ICE was tipped off by TSA at the airport and tracked Lopez-Jimenez down. Neither she or her daughter have a criminal record.
Free SF’s complaint and records request is the next step in how advocates shape and strengthen the city’s sanctuary ordinance, Chan said. The 2020 revision of the SFPD department general order had a “huge impact” in addressing certain types of immigration arrests that were increasing, such as at jails.
“We need to evolve with ICE’s evolving tactics. Every time we come up with a strategy to limit local law enforcement involvement, they’re going to come up with another counter,” Chan said. “It’s a continual battle.”
