Yesterday, a Coast Guard spokesperson, Petty Officer Graves, confirmed to The Oaklandside that an “operation” was underway and that the Coast Guard’s facilities in Alameda, on a small island connected to Oakland by a single road, would be providing support to Customs and Border Protection. Later in the day, Oakland Unified School District wrote to the school community saying, “We have received official reports this afternoon that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to step up their activity in the Bay Area by this Saturday, October 25, if not sooner.”
Oakland is a sanctuary city, and local immigrant advocacy groups and elected officials have been planning for stepped up federal operations in the Bay Area.
- The group Bay Resistance has planned a protest for today, Oct. 23, at 5 p.m. at San Francisco Embarcadero Plaza.
- The San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center posted that there will be a Sanctuary Faith Vigil today, 7:30 to 10 a.m., at the Oakland entrance to the bridge that leads to Coast Guard Island, at Dennison Street and Embarcadero.
- The Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s Oakland chapter had called for an “ICE out of the Bay” march and rally beginning at Oakland’s Fruitvale Plaza at 4 p.m. and ending at Coast Guard Island Bridge.
Here are our live updates from the scene:
9:54 a.m.
The deployment of federal officers to San Francisco is being called off, according to a statement from the office of Mayor Daniel Lurie. The statement reads in full:
“Yesterday, I spoke to San Franciscans about a potential federal deployment in our city. I said then what I have said since taking office, that keeping San Franciscans safe is my top priority.
“Late last night, I received a phone call from the President of the United States. I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise. Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office. We have work to do, and we would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery. We appreciate that the president understands that we are the global hub for technology, and when San Francisco is strong, our country is strong.
“In that conversation, the president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.
“My team will continue to monitor the situation closely, and our city remains prepared for any scenario.
“I am profoundly grateful to all the San Franciscans who came together over the last several days. Our city leaders have been united behind the goal of public safety. And our values have been on full display—this is the best of our city.”
The implications for deployments to other Bay Area cities is not clear at this time.
8:43 a.m.
Several members of the clergy have arrived for the Sanctuary Faith Vigil organized by Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, including Rev. Allison Tanner, the pastor at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland.
“Our goals were to bear witness, to deescalate if necessary, and to make a very clear statement that we will protect our community,” Tanner said. “I have community members and loved ones who are living in fear. And I have community members and loved ones who are stepping out to strategize, however we can, to ensure their safety.”
Tanner said her congregation was a sanctuary congregation in the 1980s. Then, in 2017, when President Donald Trump first took office, she said, “We organized to reinvigorate our sanctuary commitment and have a whole team that’s been working for the past nine years now to keep our community safe.”
Several protesters have now parked their vehicles crossways on Dennison Street, blocking that line of access to the entrance of Coast Guard Island Bridge.
8:06 a.m.
Clergy and others have arrived for the Sanctuary Faith Vigil; it appears that at least 150 protesters are now present, including one dressed as Wonder Woman and one in a clown costume making balloon animals. They are marching in circles around the intersection at the entrance to Coast Guard Island Bridge. Vehicular traffic has completely surrendered, as cars that were stacked up on the feeder streets have turned away.
One protester was limping after his foot was run over as he was attempting to block an SUV from driving onto the bridge.
7:20 a.m.
Customs and Border Protection has arrived. A flash bang was fired twice — a large concussion and then smoke. The protesters scattered, and several CBP vehicles, mostly trucks and SUVs, got through.
7:12 a.m.
More protesters are arriving by the minute. No cars at all are getting into the bridge anymore. Three staffers from the Oakland Department of Public Works briefly stopped by and left.
7:02 a.m.
At least 50 protesters are now on site, and in a half hour the Sanctuary Faith Vigil is set to begin so more will likely show up soon. Some are chanting at the Coast Guard security officers, “Quit your job!”
A heckler yelled at the crowd to “get a real job” and “go home,” then left the area.
There are beginning to be low-level confrontations with the Coast Guard security officers. One woman could be heard saying, “Do not touch me officer!” At least one Coast Guard security officer on the scene is carrying an automatic weapon.
Meanwhile, the day seems like any other in Oakland’s heavily immigrant and Latino Fruitvale District, where the roads are already packed with work trucks and cars filled with people commuting to their jobs and school. But the Home Depot off High Street in Fruitvale looks quiet. Very few day laborers are gathered along the streets and corners where they usually congregate. A couple of people with clipboards and the neon green hats legal observers often wear appeared to be watching for the presence of federal agents.
6:35 a.m.
There are now around a dozen protesters gathered at the entrance to the bridge. Some have begun walking back and forth in the crosswalk across the access road, holding up traffic. One protester on a bullhorn is saying, “They’re taking your neighbors to concentration camps.” Coast Guard security officers are coming down to the entrance, trying to move the protesters out of the way and allow vehicles in.
Traffic is stacking up on all feeder roads to the bridge — Embarcadero and Dennison going both directions. One protester brought a wagon loaded with speakers and is playing Vivaldi.
5:42 a.m.
Right now, everything is quiet at the Oakland side of the narrow two-lane road that leads on and off of Coast Guard Island in the predawn darkness, at the corner of Dennison Street and Embarcadero. But there’s a steady stream of traffic onto the island, vehicles of all makes and models. Coast Guard Island, home to a Coast Guard base, sits in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda.
There are also about a dozen reporters gathered, vying for photographs of a single protester standing at the base of the bridge to the island, holding a sign that reads “ICE out now” and “Shame on you.” The protester has declared a “citizens’ checkpoint,” and is yelling “What are you doing here?” at cars headed into the facility. Four guardsmen are directing traffic around him.
Nearby, a dumpster has been sprayed with anti-ICE messages.
Additional reporting by Darwin BondGraham.
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