As protesters rallied across the bay at Alameda’s Coast Guard Island, a coalition of labor, faith, and city leaders gathered Thursday on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to denounce President Donald Trump’s mobilization of federal immigration agents in the Bay Area and to share resources for community members who are at risk.
“They want us to backtrack our sanctuary policy,” said San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder. “They want us to hand over our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends over to ICE. They want to tap our surveillance networks… to let Trump spy on our streets, our families, our people. They want our police to help them enforce their racist immigration agenda. Well, I say hell no. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
Led by grassroots group Bay Resistance, the rally’s speakers included San Francisco Supervisors Chyanne Chen and Shamann Walton, as well as representatives from the San Francisco Labor Council, United Educators of San Francisco, SEIU Local 87, Mission Action, and Trabajadores Unidos. These groups stood united against Trump’s decision this week to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to Alameda’s Coast Guard base as part of a major immigration enforcement operation in the Bay Area.
Early Thursday morning, around 300 peaceful protesters assembled outside the Oakland entrance to Coast Guard Island. Activists told KQED that CBP agents drove through the crowd in SUVs, setting off flashbang grenades; one of their vehicles ran over a protester’s foot. Another masked agent reportedly shot pepper powder at a reverend who attempted to block a vehicle, according to a witness. As the protest continued into the afternoon, two people were arrested.
Elected officials, including Governor Gavin Newsom, along with community activists, have warned that Trump could use protests as a pretext to send in the National Guard to San Francisco or other Bay Area cities.
However, on Thursday morning, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that he received a late-night phone call from the president, who told him he would call off the federal deployment to the city. “My team will continue to monitor the situation closely, and our city remains prepared for any scenario,” Lurie said in a statement.
Despite the announcement, many speakers at City Hall remained skeptical. “We want everyone to know that, regardless of new announcements, that we stand with our communities,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton. “We have to be careful because we do not trust this administration.”
Supervisor Fielder was even more outspoken, criticizing Lurie’s statement that, although he opposes federalization of the National Guard, he would welcome collaboration with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and federal prosecutors to arrest drug dealers in San Francisco. “We should not negotiate with a fascist administration,” Fielder declared.
Several speakers also emphasized that even if Trump does not deploy the National Guard, the presence of CBP agents in Alameda still poses risks to people.
“As everyone knows, our workers live in the nine Bay Area counties and beyond,” said Kim Tavaglione, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council. “Labor is vowing to protect every worker in every county in the Bay Area.”
Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, expressed concern that heightened immigration enforcement increases the risk of racial profiling and arrests, even for citizens or permanent residents. A recent Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for immigration enforcement agents to use race as a pretext to stop and detain people.
“We know these agents are going to profile Latino communities, Spanish speakers, Black people and Asian people, which is the majority — literally 78% — of our entire district,” Curiel told KQED in an interview after the rally.
Many activists highlighted mutual aid resources, including those organized by Bay Resistance. The organization offers a know-your-rights toolkit and phone numbers to a rapid-response network where people can report ICE agent sightings across all nine Bay Area counties and get help if a loved one has been detained.
Volunteers have also been monitoring street corners where day laborers gather, reporting ICE activity through the Adopt a Corner program.
Laura Valdez, executive director of Mission Action and a representative of the San Francisco Rapid Response Network, urged immigrants to take precautions such as sharing identifying information — including their full legal name and immigration file “A-number” — with trusted loved ones. This helps organizations provide assistance if someone is detained by ICE.
“This might be the start of mass enforcement of our communities, and we need to prepare adequately,” Valdez said.
Bay Resistance is set to lead another protest on Thursday at 5 p.m. at San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2025/10/23/not-today-sf-officials-activists-vow-to-mobilize-against-immigration-enforcement/
