San Francisco

San Francisco officials reaffirm immigration rights, sanctuary city status

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As fears grow in the migrant communities with President Donald Trump's efforts to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations, the city of San Francisco is taking steps to reassure migrants that the city will not cooperate with federal agents targeting them at home, work or school.

On Tuesday, San Francisco supervisors will officially reaffirm the sanctuary city status with a vote at their weekly meeting. Earlier in the day, city officials and community leaders gathered together on the steps of City Hall to demand justice and fight for immigrant rights after a troubling incident involving ICE agents targeting workers in the downtown.

A viewer shared video of what he said were ICE agents in San Francisco on Sunday, and the leader of a local janitors union says agents appeared at multiple buildings Friday.

San Francisco supervisors will officially reaffirm the sanctuary city status with a vote at their weekly meeting Tuesday evening. Ginger Conejero Saab reports.

“We were caught off guard in the sense that the administration didn’t announce that they were coming to San Francisco, but we were prepared in exercising our rights,” said SEIU Local 87 President Olga Miranda.

Miranda said the agents were turned away from the offices without detaining workers because they didn’t have arrest or search warrants on them.

“So, we’re telling our members, ‘Power not panic.’ Exercise our rights,” Miranda said.

San Francisco city leaders are still gathering information about what exactly happened at those offices Friday, but they're not happy about what they're hearing so far.

“It’s very alarming that the federal government is going into our businesses and targeting our immigrant population,” San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton. They added there was no coordination with city government and agents came without proper documents.

“And we want to reaffirm that San Francisco is a sanctuary city. We’re not going to expend our resources to separate families. We’re not going to expend our resources to take people from their jobs,” Walton said.

Walton will join Supervisor Jackie Fielder, Mayor Daniel Lurie and other city leaders on the steps of City Hall Tuesday morning to address what happened Friday and to reasurre the immigrant community that San Francisco is a sanctuary city.

Fielder said one tool migrant communities and their supporters can use right now is the Rapid Response Network line.

“This is a line that anyone can call any time of day. There are people who speak multiple languages, but this is to connect people with immigration legal help,” she said.

She added that it’s important people also feel safe using city resources like reporting crimes, going to work and going to school.

Miranda agrees it’s important to not panic.

“We can’t live in fear,” she said. “We have to show our faces. We have to show our children that we cannot live in fear," she said.

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