San Francisco officials and community members are asking the community only to share verified information about ICE activity after a student reported an unverified move.
The Visitacion Valley Middle School student claimed an agent “approached” them and “asked for identification and where they were from" while on a route 29 MUNI bus. The school then informed parents, leading to panic within the community, according to Amy Aguilera of Poder San Francisco.
"The phone kept ringing. They recorded over 20 calls just last night," she said.
Poder San Francisco, located in the Mission District, is part of a rapid response immigrant support hotline. Aguilera said since Thursday, the organization has received more calls from people relaying their concerns.
"Our community is completely freaked out," she said. "I know that our folks are scared. You know, they don't want to go to school. Some of them were really afraid to take their kids to school this morning."
The San Francisco Police Department has also followed up on the student's story, and city hall was notified. Ultimately, the story was not verified.
According to an SF MTA spokesperson, the agency reviewed hours of video from its route 29 buses and couldn't see anything substantiating the story. Additionally, no bus drivers reported any activity.
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Community members are now trying to calm concerns and relay to people what they should do if something does happen.
"If you're able to, get a video from a safe distance of the activity or enforcement.
That would make our jobs of verification a lot easier," said Sanika Mahajan of Mission Action San Francisco, an organization part of the rapid response network.
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According to ICE, the agency was not conducting any operation on San Francisco buses this week.
However, local ICE agents arrested Ariel Rene Romice-Patino. The agency said he has been convicted of sexual exploitation of a child and is in the county illegally.
According to ICE, there have been more than 530 arrests across the county as of Thursday.