10 Actions SF City Hall Can Take Now to Protect Residents from ICE
People are tired of hearing elected leaders tell us there’s nothing they can do about masked gunmen tear-gassing protesters, executing observers, and kidnapping children.
This sense of paralysis didn’t come out of nowhere. Soon after Trump took power, Democratic pundit James Carville urged Democrats to “roll over and play dead.” He called for a “tactical pause,” insisting “there's nothing Democrats can legitimately do to stop Trump.” For most of the year, Carville’s strategy seemed to be the guiding principle of the Democratic party. It seems to be guiding most of our local officials as well, no matter the level of public outrage.
While our leaders play possum, Congress massively increased ICE’s budget, turning it into the largest federal enforcement agency in history. We know they will not stop at Minnesota. They have already attacked Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, and are ramping up operations in smaller cities like Portland, Maine. Blue cities and sanctuary cities are their targets, and this includes San Francisco.
So far, San Francisco’s City Hall has been largely silent, even after ICE rammed protesters with an SUV in our streets. The Mayor has gone out of his way to avoid taking any action to protect residents. The District Attorney finally found her voice recently, warning ICE to behave here, but her actions so far speak louder than words – she’s shown more zeal for prosecuting peaceful protesters than holding ICE agents accountable. While a few city legislators have spoken out, their voices are drowned out by the conspicuous silence from their billionaire-backed colleagues.
So what can our local leaders do? Plenty.
I’m not suggesting there is a single, simple fix to a situation where the federal government has been hijacked by lawless neo-Nazis and an agency has been transformed into a domestic terror organization and secret police force. But I am saying that the idea that the city is powerless is false. We have tools and should use them to protect our neighbors and join with resistance cities around the nation.
Young people and working-class people across San Francisco are already showing up and demanding bold leadership. Below are ten actions our city leaders can take right now, many of which have already been implemented by braver local officials elsewhere.
Investigate and Prosecute Illegal ICE Activity
Mayor Lurie can issue an executive order--and the Board of Supervisors can pass legislation--directing SFPD to investigate and document alleged illegal activity by ICE agents and refer violations to the District Attorney for prosecution. This is exactly what Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson did last week.
To show they are serious, Mayor Lurie and DA Jenkins must finally break their silence about the incident on July 8 in which federal agents rammed their car into protesters. Their silence is in sharp contrast to Broadview, IL, where the mayor and police immediately announced a felony criminal investigation for a similar incident where ICE rammed an SUV into protesters.
2. Create Database for Videos of ICE and Deploy Legal Observers
San Francisco could create an online reporting portal where residents can document encounters with ICE agents. People could upload videos and receive alerts about where ICE activity is occurring, similar to what New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced this week. The system would collect and preserve evidence of illegal ICE activity and increase public awareness. Existing activist networks should be consulted to make sure the city’s effort strengthens the community defense network and doesn’t jeopardize it.
San Francisco could also provide its own legal observers to supplement the work of volunteer observers. The observers could be focused specifically on gathering evidence on ICE activities that could be used by the local District Attorney, City Attorney, and/or Public Defender in efforts to hold ICE accountable. New York Attorney General Leticia James is doing this in New York.
3. Unleash the Power of the MTA: Block or Tow Their Vehicles
ICE is entirely dependent on their SUVs to detain and box in protesters and move through the city. In San Francisco, we control our streets, not the feds. ICE vehicles routinely violate local laws by parking illegally, disobeying traffic laws, and using bogus plates. The City should tow ICE vehicles the minute they break the law.
San Francisco could also identify the neighborhoods most at risk of ICE abductions and offer to install retractable bollards to block car traffic when needed. Our city has banned cars from the Great Highway and Car-Free JFK to make those areas safe for cyclists and pedestrians. Our city installed bollards to block people from driving into a Mission District alley to solicit sex workers. Hell, our city even tows parked RVs that are the last refuge for homeless families, so obviously the city can target vehicles when it wants to. Why not talk with impacted neighborhoods about whether they would want retractable bollards that could be used to regulate vehicle access during an ICE emergency to protect local residents?
4. Add ICE Activity to Emergency Alert System and Increase Public Awareness through SFGovTV
San Franciscans can already sign up with AlertSF to receive real-time updates about power outages, fires, floods, shootings, and a host of other emergencies. We need to treat the presence of ICE agents as an emergency for San Franciscans. Subscribers to AlertSF should be given the option to receive real-time alerts about ICE activity. This would be administered by the Department of Emergency Management, which already administers AlertSF.
San Francisco has its own media arm, SFGovTV that shows public hearings, community events, press conferences, and profiles of community leaders and programs. The City should use this outreach tool to feature the stories of those standing up for immigrants and ways that people can learn their rights and get involved to help their immigrant neighbors. Similarly, the City could use other outreach tools such as Muni bus advertisements, departmental social media accounts, door hangers, and mailings to make San Franciscans aware of their rights and how to assert them.
5. Create a Right to Counsel for Immigrants
Immigration attorneys have been very successful in securing the release of illegally detained immigrants. We need to make sure that every detained immigrant gets free legal representation.
Many people assume all immigrants who are detained get legal representation, but that is not the case. Immigration proceedings are civil proceedings and the courts have said that in contrast to criminal cases there is no constitutional right to counsel.
Mayor Lurie should issue an executive order creating a right to counsel for immigrants facing detention or threatened with deportation. The Mayor and Board of Supervisors should pass a budget supplemental to fund this guarantee.
6. Ban Tear Gas and Chemical Weapons in SF by Federal Agents
ICE’s indiscriminate use of chemical weapons against protesters, observers, and bystanders is reckless and completely out of control. Spraying toxins into dense, urban cities causes short-term respiratory distress and trauma and, in some cases, longer term damage. The damage isn’t just hitting those targeted, the chemicals can seep into apartments, businesses, schools, and transit, disproportionately harming seniors, children, and people with disabilities.
The Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and Chief Health Officer have the ability by executive order, legislation or emergency order, to ban or sharply limit these weapons to protect public health. San Francisco has already regulated the deployment of chemical agents by SFPD, and it makes sense to expand the rules to explicitly address this threat from ICE.
Even under existing law, the City Attorney should make clear that the City will sue immediately for an injunction if ICE deploys chemical agents against protesters in our City. Federal judges have restricted police departments in cities like Oakland and Columbus from using tear gas on nonviolent protesters. Most recently, in January, U.S. District Judge Kate M. Menendez in Minnesota issued an order banning federal agents from using tear gas and pepper spray against peaceful protesters, a decision that is currently on appeal.
7. Ban Evictions
City Hall should adopt an eviction ban that automatically activates when ICE surges here. We banned evictions during COVID lockdown, because displacing people in an emergency is cruel and destabilizing. People who are afraid to go to work because federal agents are terrorizing the community shouldn’t lose their homes.
8. No Contracts with Firms Assisting/Partnering with ICE
The City has passed laws limiting contracts with companies and jurisdictions that violate certain basic human rights. San Francisco could adopt an ordinance that bans the city from contracting with, investing in, hiring, partnering with, or otherwise funding any company that contracts with ICE, supplies weapons to ICE/DHS, detains or transports immigrants as part of deportation operations, etc. In conjunction with this legislation, the City should require disclosure of any ICE affiliation from applicants seeking government contracts.
9. Enact Ordinance Against ICE Concealing Identity
The City could adopt legislation that prohibits ICE from concealing their identities with masks, unmarked vehicles, and refusal to display their badges when operating in San Francisco, similar to Philadelphia’s recently introduced “ICE Out” legislation. While the California law prohibiting ICE from masked operations is tied up in court, San Francisco should move forward to adopt its own local ban. The Ordinance should not just ban the practice, but it should also create civil liability and a private right of action for anyone who is assaulted, detained, or arrested by an ICE agent concealing their identity in violation of the law.
10. Fund Mutual Aid and Know-Your-Rights Trainings
The budget process in San Francisco has begun for Fiscal Year 2026-2027. The Mayor and Board of Supervisors could make a powerful statement by increasing funding for groups that are providing mutual aid to immigrant communities, offering know-your-rights trainings, and defending protesters in court.
This is just a partial list. There are dozens of actions available to the Mayor and city leaders right now. Local leaders should act before ICE shows up on our doorsteps. Let’s get creative and demand our leaders show some resolve.