15 Detained By ICE, Including Several Bay Area Children

SAN FRANCISCO — At least 15 people, including at least four children, were taken into custody Wednesday when they appeared for check-ins at a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco, according to immigrant advocates.

Some who attended the check-ins at 630 Sansome St. had received last-minute orders to show up and did not expect they would be detained while others were in the midst of citizenship hearings and were detained without deportation orders, according to the advocacy group Mission Action.

Those detained included three separate groups of mothers and children, all of whom spent the night at the Sansome Street facility, according to Priya Patel, a supervising attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.

“These are individuals who are trying to comply with the rules, trying to seek asylum,” Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program for the Justice and Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco, said during a media call mid-day Thursday. “We know when people are detained they’re more likely to give up their rights."

Sanika Mahajan, director of community engagement and Organizing at Mission Action, said advocates believe ICE is attempting to discourage immigrants from attending court appearances and check-ins.

“We believe that ICE really wants our immigrant communities to be scared," she said during the call.

A woman using the pseudonym Yaneth spoke through an interpreter, about her 25-year-old sister, who was among those detained, along with her children. Her sister had an ankle monitor and was complying with ICE requirements.

“There are supposed to be rules for children — they’re not supposed to have to suffer cold, hunger, sleeping on the floor,” Yaneth said during the call. “I’m asking for justice and for something to be done."

Yaneth and her two children are being routed to a for-profit detention center in Texas, according to Patel.

About 100 people demonstrated against the detentions Wednesday evening outside the Sansome Street building, Mission Action said.

San Francisco District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder in a prepared statement posted on social media said that those detained included a 3-year-old. The detainees are expected to be deported immediately, Fielder said, citing the San Francisco Rapid Response Network.

“These detentions under the Trump administration are unconscionable, unlawful, and authoritarian,” Fielder said in the statement, calling on Mayor Daniel Lurie and other San Francisco officials to increase funding for immigrant legal services.

Wednesday’s detentions follow similar events in the Bay Area in recent weeks.

ICE did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

The detentions are among several involving children that have triggered backlash from residents and community leaders around the state.

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According to CNN, Federal authorities have detained about 500 children since President Donald Trump took office.

On Wednesday, ICE officials confirmed the pending deportation of a 9-year-old Los Angeles boy who was detained and separated from his father at his father's immigration hearing. The boy's teachers and local PTA had lobbied unsuccessfully to free the child.

RELATED: South Bay Nine-Year-Old To Be Deported By ICE

A 4-year-old Mexican girl who receives lifesaving medical care from a Southern California hospital was granted permission to remain in the country weeks after federal authorities said she could be deported, her family's attorneys said Tuesday.

The girl’s family said they were notified in April and May that their humanitarian parole was being revoked and they would be subject to potential deportation. They said the child likely could not survive if she were deported.

Her case was one of several humanitarian parolees granted temporary legal status under former President Joe Biden that the Trump Administration is revoking.

RELATED: 4-Year-Old Facing Deportation Could Die Without U.S. Medical Care

The Associated Press contributed to this report.