A year of ICE in S.F.: Immigration experts on what resistance is working, and what 2026 might hold.

"San Francisco has been spared the widespread raids and sweeps that ICE agents have conducted in other cities, Milli Atkinson, head of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative, told a packed house at a panel discussion hosted by Mission Local, on how federal immigration policies have been playing out locally. But, Atkinson continued, "with the money from the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' we expect that is something that could happen here in the future, and we want to be prepared.""

"The panel - composed of Atkinson, assistant chief at the public defender's office Angela Chan, Shira Levine, a former immigration judge fired by the Trump administration, Marissa Hatton, a senior staff attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of San Francisco, and a Peruvian asylum seeker who was detained by ICE - reflected on the past year of immigration crackdown and resistance in San Francisco."

"The bilingual panel was moderated by Mission Local immigration reporters Margaret Kadifa and Sage Ríos Mace. Eleven community organizations - legal services, advocacy groups, translation services - set up tables with resource flyers and volunteer forms. Some decorated their table with handmade monarch butterflies, a symbol of migration. Over the past 10 months, San Francisco has witnessed courthouse arrests, protests, and a federal deployment that was called off at the last minute."

San Francisco has been spared widespread ICE raids so far. Increased federal funding from the 'Big Beautiful Bill' could enable enforcement actions locally, creating a need for preparation. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989, which forbids city employees from assisting federal agents. The past ten months included courthouse arrests, protests, and an aborted federal deployment. Community legal services, advocacy groups, and translation services offered resources and volunteer forms and used handmade monarch butterflies as migration symbols. Attorneys, public defenders, and a detained asylum seeker recounted enforcement experiences and local resistance efforts.

Read at Mission Local