DIVIDED WE FALL, UNITED WE STAND. That was the message delivered by immigration advocates and elected leaders in a Monday rally on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall.
The event was organized by Supervisor Jackie Fielder with immigrant advocacy groups that represent people from Asian and Latino countries, as well as the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, a nonprofit that provides services and advocacy for working-class Arabs and Muslims across the Bay Area.
Speakers stressed a unified peaceful response to President Donald Trump’s actions against immigrant communities, including mass detentions carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and a travel ban announced last week against 19 mostly Arab, Muslim-majority and African countries.
“Trump is actually fulfilling on his campaign promises,” said AROC executive director Lara Kiswani, emphasizing the need for communities to respond and protect one another.
“Trump promised to attack immigrant students and human rights defenders who spoke out against genocide,” Kiswani said. “Before we knew it, he was kidnapping immigrant students off the streets and in their homes. Trump promised to attack immigrants across this country in sanctuary cities, kidnapping them from their workplaces, and before we knew it, he had started to do that. Each time our communities stood together. Labor, faith, community workers, elected leaders have all vowed to say we will not allow this to happen in our backyards.”
Expanding the playbook
The event was one of three rallies in San Francisco on Monday following the escalation of tensions at anti-ICE marches in Los Angeles. Over the weekend, Trump bypassed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wishes and activated thousands of National Guard troops to go to Los Angeles in response to street protests against his immigration policy. Trump deployed another 700 Marines to the city on Tuesday.
“This is what authoritarianism and racism looks like,” said Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, a legal and civil rights nonprofit serving Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
Kohli said she is the great granddaughter of an Indian immigrant who lived through the Asian Exclusion Act, also known as the Immigration Act of 1924. That law severely limited the number of Asian immigrants and others from outside the Western Hemisphere. It also authorized the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol.
“Our government has repeatedly used national security to justify discriminatory policies during World War II,” said Kohli. “Under the Alien Enemies Act, the U.S. used false claims to round up and incarcerate entire Japanese American communities, including many communities in San Francisco. Today, we’re seeing this same playbook expanded.”
Fielder, the San Francisco supervisor, said she has called on Mayor Daniel Lurie and other city leaders to be more vocal about Trump’s actions.
“Our government has repeatedly used national security to justify discriminatory policies during World War II. … Today, we’re seeing this same playbook expanded.” Aarti Kohli, Asian Law Caucus executive director
“When the government turns on its own people, it is up to the people to keep the government in check,” she said. “It’s a call for people to rise and hold power accountable, and to remind the government who it really works for. They want to demonize Black, Brown immigrants and trans people. We see this as the federal government recklessly escalates the situation by sending in the National Guard. And now the Marines, our own military on our own people! All of us across race, religion, class must stand in solidarity, protect our neighbors and resist repression together.”
Protesting ICE
At noon Monday, members of Service Employees International Union and other local unions gathered outside of the California State Building in San Francisco to protest the ICE raids.
SEIU leaders demanded the release of David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU United Service Workers West. Huerta was arrested and held in federal detention during the Los Angeles protest. By Monday afternoon, Huerta was released on a $50,000 bond but is still facing charges. Another protest took place Monday night in the Mission District.
On Saturday, a national day of non-violent marches dubbed the No Kings protest is scheduled for multiple cities in response to Trump’s policies.