MORE THAN A DOZEN political and community leaders gathered at Oakland City Hall on Thursday to lambast the arrival of federal agents and to urge people to stay calm in the face of what they characterized as President Donald Trump’s latest provocation.
During a news briefing led by Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, a veritable who’s who of East Bay leadership responded to the arrival of federal agents at Coast Guard Island in the Oakland Estuary.
Lee said she convened the gathering as a show of regional unity in the face of the federal government’s “escalated rhetoric and enforcement posture” in the Bay Area.
“These federal actions are not about public safety,” Lee said. “They’re political stunts designed to divide and to intimidate. Oakland will not take the bait. We will remain calm, focused and united.”
“We will not allow outsiders to create chaos,” she said.
Lee said that despite the fact that Trump has apparently called off a planned “surge” of National Guard troops that was planned for this weekend in San Francisco, she doesn’t know what his plans are for Oakland and neighboring communities.
“There’s no information we can bring to you today to bring you up to date on what plans they have in place but we are moving forward with our plans and we are prepared,” said Lee, who called the situation “very fluid.”
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson and Oakland Police Assistant Chief James Beere said they wanted to make sure people know that their departments don’t help federal immigration agencies and don’t collect information about people’s immigration status.
They also said that local law enforcement is unable to prevent federal agents from operating in the community, although Beere said that his officers will always wear identifiable uniforms and provide their police credentials to members of the public.
“If anyone attempts to enter your house or detain you and they’re not in uniform or they do not show official credentials, please call 911 immediately,” he said.
Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Denise Saddler said OUSD is a sanctuary district, inside a sanctuary city that’s inside a sanctuary state.
“We stand proudly with our students, our families and neighbors no matter where they come from or what language they speak,” Saddler said. “We do not need outside troops or agents coming into our city to intimidate, bully or separate our families.”
In a message to district families Wednesday, OUSD officials said district staff is prohibited from sharing information about anyone’s immigration status and that immigration agents aren’t allowed on school campuses unless they have a warrant signed by a judge that has been reviewed by the OUSD legal team.
Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, who was there with Supervisor Elisa Marquez, said she and Marquez are both daughters of immigrants and noted that about one-third of the county’s population are immigrants or refugees.
“My parents came from the Philippines seeking economic opportunity and my grandparents came fleeing a dictator in the Philippines, a dictator who was ousted by a people’s power movement and part of my message today is that an organized community is a safe community,” Fortunato Bas said.
She said the county this year has earmarked $7 million to bolster services for immigrants and refugees as federal immigration enforcement increases, including funding for the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership to expand the county’s rapid response hotline to seven days a week.
“We have been witnessing how our neighborhoods become destabilized, our families separated and we have seen the cruelty of the federal government become a reality for our communities,” said Lourdes Martinez of the legal aid organization Centro Legal de la Raza.
She urged people to stay proud of their heritage and remain united in the face of increased federal law enforcement activity that encourages agents to racially profile people based on their skin color, their language and employment.
“Our cultures and our heritage are not political,” Martinez said. “They are who we are. They are our heritage. They are our families, our ancestors. They are our identities and it is what makes us strong and we must continue to stay proud and united in who we are.”
Oakland will not take the bait. We will remain calm, focused and united.
MAYor barbara lee
She also said people should know their rights, including the right to remain silent and to keep their doors closed to any law enforcement agent without a warrant signed by a judge.
Pastor Michael McBride of The Way Christian Center in East Oakland addressed the president directly.
“We are not in a state of an emergency, you are the emergency,” McBride said. “We are not a city of lawlessness and chaos, Donald Trump, you are an agent of chaos. You are the wrecking ball that has been unleashed in our city, in this state and this country.”
“Unlike the East Wing of the White House, Oakland’s walls will not fall back easily,” he said.
People who have seen, interacted with or been detained by immigration officials can call the Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership hotline at (510) 241-4011.
SF leaders doubt Trump’s reversal
In San Francisco, hundreds of protesters, labor leaders, and immigrant advocates rallied on the steps of City Hall, just a few hours after President Donald Trump announced he was canceling plans to send federal troops to the city.
Despite Trump confirming in a phone call with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday night that he was calling off the deployment to the city, uncertainty remains on whether the rest of the Bay Area will be spared from a potential federal “surge.”
Trump last week had called for the National Guard and federal agents to go to San Francisco. Along with increased enforcement nationwide from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, since taking office, Trump has ordered National Guard troops from various states to Portland, Oregon; Chicago; Memphis, Tennessee; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles.
“We have to be careful because we do not trust this administration,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton at the rally.
Protesters chanted slogans like “An injury to one is an injury to all” while holding up signs that read “No ICE troops in the Bay” and “We keep us safe.” Speeches were muddled under the frequent honking of cars driving past City Hall.
Several speakers were suspicious of the deployment cancellation, since federal officials have not explicitly confirmed if the rest of the Bay Area is off the table in addition to San Francisco.
Supervisor Jackie Fielder also warned the crowd that it was not clear if operations for all federal agencies have been canceled.
“We don’t know which federal agencies are being called off,” said Fielder. “We don’t know if that’s the National Guard. We don’t know if it’s ICE, if it’s Border Patrol.”
When asked if there are still plans to send federal agents to other Bay Area cities, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declined to comment. DHS instead referred to Trump’s statement earlier Thursday on his social media site Truth Social, which only mentioned canceling a deployment to San Francisco.
“The Federal Government was preparing to ‘surge’ San Francisco, California, on Saturday, but friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”
Inside City Hall, Lurie addressed the public in a speech discussing the call with Trump.
“The president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal surge in San Francisco,” Lurie said. “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.”
When asked if Trump mentioned anything about a plan to send federal troops to other Bay Area cities, Lurie said he cannot confirm nor deny any potential federal agent activity in the rest of the region.
We have to be careful because we do not trust this administration.
Supervisor Shamann Walton
“I was told the surge was being called off, and he only spoke about San Francisco prior,” Lurie said.
Although Lurie repeated that he does not want federal troops to march through the streets of San Francisco, he did say he’d be open to federal support in helping tackle the selling of fentanyl and other drugs in the city.
“I also spoke this morning to Attorney General Pam Bondi,” he said. “She echoed her willingness to partner with our local law enforcement to combat fentanyl and hold drug traffickers accountable.”
Speakers also used the rally outside City Hall as an opportunity to inform the public and immigrant communities on what to do in the event that they are detained by a federal agent.
Immigrant rights advocates and several supervisors mentioned how immigrants should have their documentation and personal identifying information in an accessible place.
They also pointed to the importance of having on hand the hotline for local rapid response networks, which vary according to region or county. Rapid response networks are resources designated for helping protect the rights of immigrants.