On January 28th, city leaders came together at the steps of San Francisco City Hall in light of the recent news of an attempted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in two buildings in downtown SF. According to Olga Miranda, president of SEIU Local 87, a local janitor union, ICE officials showed up and were denied access to the buildings by security, lacking the proper warrants. No one was arrested.
“This is the moment that private business in San Francisco can speak up and say, ‘This is private property. You can’t come here.’,” Miranda said at the rally.
Following the presence of federal immigration officials, hundreds of cleaning union members stayed away from work, fearing confrontation with ICE.
The same day in Chicago, one of the first targets of the second Trump administration, 100 individuals were detained, perhaps a vision of what is soon to come for San Francisco.
Immigration raids have been occurring across the country, with sanctuary cities being especially targeted. In the first week of the second Trump administration, over 7,000 migrants have been deported back to their home countries. In contrast to the Biden administration, which used regular domestic airplanes to carry out deportations, Donald Trump has ordered the use of military planes to show force to the home countries of immigrants. Each of these flights costs approximately $300,000.
President Trump had promised to come down hard on sanctuary cities like San Francisco, going so far as threatening prosecution of city officials who refused to cooperate with ICE arrests and operations. In December, before Trump took power, border Czar Tom Homan said about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, “I will prosecute him,” if he attempts to block the actions of ICE or harbor illegal aliens.
While city leaders will not likely interfere with immigration raids, police will not assist.
“Our policy simply says you cannot deputize local law enforcement as ICE agents,” City Attorney David Chiu said. “With scarce resources, we must prioritize those resources to fight crime, not break up families.”
San Francisco has enough of its own problems; it doesn’t have the resources to focus on having its police carry out immigration raids. One fear is that if San Francisco and other liberal cities do not comply with the Trump administration’s requests to assist ICE and remove its “sanctuary city” status, Trump will cut off federal spending to the city.
“Eight years ago, when Donald Trump first came into office, he came after San Francisco. He tried to cut off federal funding because we are a sanctuary city,” Chiu said. “The lawyers in my office stood up, fought back, and we won. I’m here to tell you that we will do it again if we have to.”
While Donald Trump can try as hard as he wants to force city officials to comply, San Francisco will remain steadfast in its status as a sanctuary city. The purpose of a sanctuary city is to fight crime, not to harbor criminals, as people will not be afraid of coming forward without being asked for their immigration status.
This is echoed by Mayor Daniel Lurie. “Public safety is my first priority,” Lurie said from a podium on the steps of City Hall. “That means everyone in the city should feel safe when interacting with law enforcement,” he said.
As San Francisco continues to face these raids, everyone must be aware of their rights and remember that even federal law enforcement can only search with a warrant.