In July, the organized resistance to ICE activity in downtown San Francisco was focused on Tuesdays as the day to mobilize protesters and stymie enforcement efforts at the city’s immigration courts and detention facilities.
The fight has now expanded in a major way to Fridays. Recent violent clashes at ICE headquarters at 630 Sansome St. are motivating a new swell of people to show up, make noise, and attempt to disrupt the transfer of immigrant detainees.
ICE enforcement actions can happen on any weekday, but protest organizers had previously emphasized Tuesdays in social media calls to action because of aggressive crackdowns that had unfolded on prior Tuesdays. The strategic focus on one weekday has developed a critical mass of participants marching, chanting, playing the bagpipes, and informing passersby outside the San Francisco Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery St.
However, last Friday’s attack on protesters by ICE agents and Department of Homeland Security officers at 630 Sansome St. — including the use of pepperball guns and the arrest of two US citizens — signaled the need for a bigger mobilization on other days, said Aliya Karmali, an Oakland-based lawyer with the Demonstrations Legal Support Collaborative, which works on issues related to protest rights.
“There are generally very few protestors outside 630 Sansome any day of the week. The bigger presence most days has been at 100 Montgomery, especially on Tuesdays, but it’s recently expanding to other days,” Karmali told me. “We’ll see if it makes a difference since ICE knows protestors can quickly mobilize between the two courts.”
Since June, the number of protesters has grown, with hundreds of people showing up for weekday shifts from the morning through the afternoon. One protester who has been involved since June (and asked for anonymity for their safety) noted that Tuesday action at 100 Montgomery St. has in particular “become sustainable” with consistent people showing up in recent weeks, allowing a variety of community organizers to call upon their networks for other weekdays. The SF chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, for example, is credited with leading the charge on Friday actions at 100 Montgomery St.
The protestor told me that despite the increased presence and improved mobilization, it hasn’t been all wins: “We’ve also been frustrated with our lack of success at preventing abductions at 630 Sansome.” They witnessed last Friday’s attack and observed that the numbers of ICE and DHS agents had also grown — and grown more aggressive. (See: shooting pepperballs at random protesters from behind a closing garage door, and throwing bystanders to the ground.)
“I noticed many new agents this time, with several people completely masked up — gaiter up to their sunglasses, black baseball cap down to their sunglasses. That's new,” they said.
Despite the violence — or maybe because of it — newcomers continue to join the protests, including many previously unrelated to leftist groups or organizers.
“I met a lot of folks last Friday and there were so many new faces,” said “Cebollin,” a longtime anti-ICE protester who also asked that only their nickname be used to preserve their safety. “It means that we’re not getting the same protesters on both Tuesdays and Fridays. That’s important because there’s more energy, less burnout.”
