A 3-year-old was among those arrested during route checks at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco on Wednesday.
At least 15 people, including young children, were taken into custody, according to immigration rights advocates.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment.
Why It Matters
Several of the detainees, including parents and young children, spent the night at the ICE field office at 630 Sansome Street, according to Priya Patel, a supervising attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. Advocates reported that the group included at least four children and consisted of residents from San Francisco, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties.
Individuals with pending immigration cases are usually required to report to ICE officials at least once a year while their cases move through an often backlogged court system. Newsweek has revealed several cases of green card holders and undocumented immigrants being detained at immigration appointments at ICE field offices across the United States.
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What To Know
Advocates from the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) and Mission Action say that some of the detainees were still in the middle of their immigration proceedings and did not have final deportation orders. Others were complying with ICE supervision requirements as part of ongoing legal processes.
Several of those detained have since been transferred to detention facilities, including the Golden State Annex in McFarland, California, and the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, which holds women and children.
Advocates also raised concerns that children detained with fathers may face family separation, as there are no facilities equipped to house fathers with children.
Several undocumented immigrants were taken into custody and held in the building’s basement, with some reportedly held overnight, according to immigration attorneys and family members.
Democratic lawmakers are furious with the move.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi launched a scathing attack on Trump’s immigration enforcers over the incident.
“It is stupid that ICE is now arresting families and children for obeying the law. The detained immigrants were diligently cooperating with law enforcement and complying with the law by reporting to their regularly scheduled check-in with ICE,” Pelosi said.
These families were following their normal routine – and if the purpose of ICE is to ensure immigration laws and processes are enforced and followed, these arrests run counter to that mission and are inconsistent with it.
Protesters gathered outside the ICE field office on Wednesday evening to express their opposition to the recent detentions.
What People Are Saying
Pelosi said in a press release: “The traumatic impact these detainments will have on these families – including a three-year-old child – who are being detained for obeying the law is outrageous and unforgivable. 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. Clearly ICE does not place a value on our responsibility to the wellbeing of families.
Patel told reporters on a press call: “They’re disappearing families and not even giving folks the courtesy of telling us what they’re going to do with them when these are families who have legitimate fears of returning to their country.”
San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder said in a statement: “San Francisco can no longer pretend it is immune from the reaches of the Trump administration,” Fielder said in a statement. “Every official and organized body must denounce this attack on constitutional rights and express support for our immigrant San Franciscans.”