Interactions between community members and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers turned violent at the federal immigration court in downtown San Francisco this morning.
An ICE agent pepper-sprayed a protester on Wednesday morning while attempting to enter a courthouse in the Financial District.
“ Most days it's peaceful,” Cebollin Libre said. “Most days, we're just here having a presence, supporting immigrants.”
Libre is a grassroots organizer who lives in San Francisco. He and other community members gather outside the immigration court building three days a week.
“But today, ICE came through and started using violence. They started like using brandishing batons at people at the door and stuff, and telling us we shouldn't be here. And then they pepper-sprayed one protester in the eyes.”
It’s the third physical altercation between the two groups in San Francisco this summer. Last month, an ICE van drove through a crowd. And earlier this month, two protesters were forcibly arrested.
After ICE successfully entered the building on Wednesday morning, Libre accompanied someone to their asylum hearing. Inside, he saw a person get detained by ICE.
“Yeah, it's really brutal, honestly,” said Libre. “It's brutal to witness.”
The Trump administration campaigned on the promise that it would detain immigrants who had committed a crime. According to UC Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project, nearly sixty percent of immigrants detained by ICE in June and nearly forty percent in July did not have a criminal history.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
