"On Friday morning, District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood wanted to take a look inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in San Francisco, where the bulk of the city's ICE arrests have taken place. But the building's security had other plans. They promptly turned Mahmood away. Security told him that threats to ICE agents have spiked across the country, and they could not take unscheduled tours. Mahmood, a security guard said, had not made an appointment. It's the first time a city supervisor has been turned away at the 630 Sansome St. headquarters."
"Since late September, three other city supervisors - Jackie Fielder, Matt Dorsey and Chyanne Chen - have toured the ICE facilities, all without an appointment. They've sat in on court hearings to better understand the system and the fears of the city's immigrants. Mahmood let out a sigh after he was turned away. "You can put that on record," he said standing in an elevator to exit the building."
"It wasn't totally uneventful. Mahmood earlier that morning entered Judge Joseph Park's courtroom to witness the immigration hearings where all cases have been placed into expedited removal proceedings by the Department of Homeland Security, meaning they are due to be deported. It is after those hearings that ICE agents detain people in the hallways. But the courtroom was a ghost town. The empty benches reflected a growing trend of no-shows at the city's immigration courts, which attorneys attribute to clients' fears that ICE may be waiting outside the courtroom to make arrests."
District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood was turned away from San Francisco's ICE headquarters because building security said unscheduled tours were not allowed amid reported spikes in threats to ICE agents. Three other city supervisors previously toured the facility without appointments and attended court hearings. Mahmood observed immigration hearings that had been placed into expedited removal proceedings. Courtroom benches were empty as many asylum seekers did not appear, prompting a judge to dismiss cases in absentia, triggering automatic deportation orders and new fees for arrested individuals after absentia rulings.
Read at Mission Local
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]