Just hours after city and community leaders held a press conference addressing the arrival of federal agents in the Bay Area, thousands marched on Embarcadero Plaza in opposition to ICE, the Trump administration, and a federal enforcement “surge” being dangled as a threat to San Francisco.
The mood was both somber and jubilant. After Donald Trump posted yesterday morning that San Francisco would not be inundated by militarized federal forces as promised (although he said to “stay tuned”), local leaders cautiously celebrated. They also emphasized the pain and destruction federal forces have already caused.
The reality of Trump and Lurie’s announcement of a halted federal invasion—that the deal, if it lasts, only prevents more militarized federal agents from entering San Francisco than already occupy it—is well-known among organizers and attendees.
District 9 Sup. Jackie Fielder said she’s not letting up any vigilance: “I told [Mayor Lurie] that I took issue with the way that he’s welcoming ATF, DEA, FBI, who are all under Pam Bondi, because they have been deputized to carry out immigration enforcement operations. I take serious issue with that, and this administration is going to keep trying to force us to renege on our sanctuary policies. I’m not with that, and we should not be negotiating with a fascist administration.”
District 5 Sup. Bilal Mahmood told the rally: “While we welcome some of the news that happened this morning, make no mistake, federal agents are already, and have been, in San Francisco for months. ICE has already been in San Francisco for months. Hours ago, I got a call from a resident in the Tenderloin—someone who grew up in Pakistan where my family was from—he was detained by ICE in immigration court earlier today. It was a reminder that we are at the precipice of fascism in our country, and we have to remain vigilant.”
Bay Resistance, a region-wide community action network divided into neighborhood “pods,” asked attendees to put emergency hotline numbers into their phones and report sightings of ICE or other federal agents immediately. The San Francisco Rapid Response Network Hotline is (415) 200-1548. Hotlines for other Bay Area cities and counties are found on their website.
Organizers repeated reminders of constitutional rights during interactions with ICE. Do not open the door. Do not consent to a search. Say ‘Am I free to go?’ Abdi Soltani, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California, told us. The ACLU asks witnesses of ICE interactions to know their rights as well. “Every person has the right to videotape and monitor what’s happening in public spaces. You can take a recording with your camera if it’s in a public space. You don’t want to get in the way or interfere, that’s not protected under the law. But the protection of the First Amendment extends your ability to record events in public, and that’s what we would encourage people to do.”
District 11 Sup. Chyanne Chen said the chaos has taken a toll on her constituents. “It’s so sad to learn that our kids are not going to school today,” she told us. “It’s so sad to learn that our neighbors are not going out of their house. They’re not seeking medical treatment. They are just scared, and this is hurting us together. And I think when our mayor wants to make sure that we bring back the economy, I think it’s important to make sure that people are the economy.”
Help us save local journalism!
Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. Become a 48 Hills Hero and support the only daily progressive news source in the Bay Area.
United Educators of San Francisco President Cassondra Curiel confirmed that school attendance was down on Thursday. She clarified that ICE has not targeted San Francisco schools at this time, but immigration enforcement at schools in Chicago has many on edge.
“We know that a lot of kids stayed home today because families had a lot of anxiety. Even families who aren’t of mixed status stayed home because of the chaos that the threats of inviting National Guard troops and ICE to a city area like our tight communities caused a lot of stress to families, and they decided to not put their most precious person out in that environment,” Curiel told us. “The protocols aren’t there. The district doesn’t have a full-fledged plan. And we’ve been working closely, internally, with each other, on creating contingency plans, and so we’ll be coming out more with that in the coming week.”
Trump’s justification for sending federal troops into San Francisco was calling it a “mess,” mirroring his claims about other major cities led by Democrats: they’re overrun with crime that require the presence of National Guards members to quell. Even with the weight of federal enforcement’s presence in the community, the march itself featured a marching band and protestors dancing through the financial district. Onlookers danced on pedestrian bridges and waved from office building windows. A group of clowns wearing vests labeled ‘Rational Guard’ performed street vaudeville and picked up litter. The march, at times heavy with grief, also held moments of joy and silliness that made the idea of chaos in San Francisco’s streets laughable.
Colonel O’Truth, a clown with the Rational Guard, told us that’s the point.
“We have been handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, socks, menstrual supplies to the unhoused, picking up trash. We just want to provide a way to make our cities a more wonderful, welcoming, mutual-aid-filled place to live, and show how ridiculous it is what this administration is doing,” she said. “There has to be joy in the movement. It’s what keeps us going. And it’s what helps people to stay strong and keep coming back and keep showing up. And I think the undercurrent is mutual aid, right? Helping each other, being there for each other, creating a safety network, but doing it with love and laughter and trying to bring jokes, compliments, flowers to people on the streets.”
“A lot of the successful organizing around the country has involved joy and resistance, and shown how ridiculous these attacks are, that they’re just a smoke screen, and they’re not bringing real safety,” Bay Resistance’s Sasha Wright said. “And actually, what we need to bring real safety to our communities is investment in our health care. They just cut Medicaid for millions of people in this country. We need federal investment for housing, and for all kinds of services, a lot of which have now been cut from federal, state, and local budgets. So, yeah, we’re here to help show a little bit of the joy, and vision of what we do need to build, and what we do need our government to do for us instead of invading our cities with militarized occupations.”
