ICE Arrests 15 People in San Francisco, Including Children, Pelosi Says

Updated 5:06 p.m. Thursday

More than a dozen people, including a 3-year-old child, were arrested at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco on Wednesday, according to advocates and local political leaders.

At least 15 people were taken into custody after appearing for ICE check-in appointments, according to the SF Rapid Response Network, a coalition of legal and immigration groups.

An ICE spokesperson did not confirm the number of people detained, but said those arrested “had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.”

Priya Patel, a supervising attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, said multiple families were detained, including three sets of mothers and children. All of these families were held overnight at 630 Sansome, ICE’s offices in San Francisco, Patel said.

By Thursday afternoon, one of those families was routed to ICE’s South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, Patel said. That facility was shuttered under the Biden administration due to operational costs, but has been reopened by Trump for the practice of detaining families.

ICE check-ins can occur for various reasons, but generally are ordered by the Department of Homeland Security to ensure immigrants are following the legal process.

The arrests come after ICE officers ramped up enforcement actions at immigration courts around the Bay Area and across the country in recent weeks. ICE reportedly made more arrests on June 4 than any other day in the agency’s history, NBC reported.

Arrests made during routine check-in appointments represent an escalation of ICE’s tactics, said Sanika Mahajan, an organizer with the community organization Mission Action.

“These operations, along with misleading messaging, are an attempt to intimidate our communities, undermine due process, prevent them from attending their mandated hearings and check-ins and carry out racist schemes for mass deportation,” Mahajan said.

One of the people detained Wednesday was described by her sister at a press conference Thursday as a 25-year-old woman who was previously assigned an ankle monitor by ICE as an alternative to detention. The woman and her two children slept on the floor of the ICE offices, where they were hungry and cold, the sister said.

Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi lambasted ICE’s arrests as “stupid,” in a statement Thursday.

“The traumatic impact these detainments will have on these families — including a 3-year-old child — who are being detained for obeying the law is outrageous and unforgivable,” Pelosi said. “This menacing conduct will instill fear in immigrants who have scheduled future check-ins with ICE officials and their trepidation may deter them from pursuing lawful pathways.”

Legal aid groups are encouraging immigrants to speak to attorneys, and to continue to attend court dates and ICE check-ins, ideally with a U.S. citizen advocate accompanying them.

KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.