Interfaith Activists Block Entrances to San Francisco ICE Office, Risking Arrest

Activists are trying to block entrances to San Francisco’s federal immigration office Tuesday morning, calling for due process and respect for immigrants amid escalating enforcement activity.

About two dozen people singing hymns and holding large banners were stationed in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s doors, while others blocked intersections on Sansome Street and vehicle access to the building from Battery Street.

“We are calling for an end to the kidnappings; we are calling for dignity and respect for all people; we are calling for due process,” said Limei Chen, a member of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. “We are just calling for love and dignity for immigrants and all people.”

Just after 7 a.m., faith leaders said Department of Homeland Security officials gave them orders to disperse and warned that they could be arrested by federal officers if they failed to do so.

The advocates said they planned to remain despite potential consequences.

“The harm that’s being committed in these buildings when people are being taken from their families and then put into concentration camps far outweighs any concerns to any harm that may come from standing here today in solidarity with people who are just simply trying to live their lives in this country in freedom and dignity,” said Rabbi Cat Zavis. “Our faith traditions and our spiritual traditions call us to disrupt injustice and stand with them.”

Since the summer, Interfaith leaders from across the Bay Area have been holding multiple weekly vigils outside the office and an immigration court facility a half-mile away, but they have avoided interfering with ICE activity.

But the Rev. Deborah Lee, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity co-director, said escalating violence has inspired them to take further action.

“At some point, we as people of faith are being called to not just love our neighbor, but we have to disrupt injustice that’s happening day after day after day,” she told KQED. “We cannot sit idly by and see people being marched into the slaughter of immigration detention across our country.”

Lee said over the last six months, about 120 people have been detained while reporting to mandatory asylum case check-in appointments and hearings in the city — a tactic that was unprecedented prior to the second Trump administration.

The Department of Justice has also fired 12 of 21 immigration court judges who preside over the Bay Area’s court since the beginning of 2025, raising alarms that judges who might not be willing to rule in line with the administration’s immigration agenda could face consequences.

This is a developing story, and it will be updated.