[In this article a member of Black Rose/Rosa Negra's California Bay Area
Local reflects on the organizing that made recent mobilizations to
oppose a "surge" of federal agents in their region both possible and
successful.]---- Between October 22nd and 26th, the Bay Area
successfully stood down a planned incursion of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) officers and operations. While an official narrative
has emerged that backroom maneuvering by local tech capital reversed
plans for the "surge," this version of events leaves out how Bay Area
residents mobilized forcefully en masse to protect one another. Far from
a spontaneous response to an immediate crisis, political and social
movement organizations had been diligently preparing for this moment
since Trump's 2024 electoral victory.
In line with his attacks on other liberal bastions, Trump has regularly
condemned San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley for their poverty,
homelessness, manufactured crime crisis, and resistance since his first
administration. The administration has particularly directed its ire at
Oakland, where former House Representative Barbara Lee won the mayorship
in 2025. Alongside its assault on immigration and "DEI purges" in
bureaucratic leadership, the administration barely hides its white
supremacist motives.
It was no surprise, then, when on Wednesday, October 22nd rumors that
his administration was planning to "surge" the region over the upcoming
weekend with 100 to 1,500 federal law enforcement officials for an
anti-immigrant "invasion" started pinging between Signal loops, WhatsApp
groups, and social media. When ICE began its terror campaign at
courthouses in San Francisco and Concord, word spread similarly before
mainstream outlets verified the reporting's veracity.
Bay Area residents march against the Trump administration's promised
"surge" of federal agents to the region.
Timelines left little room for shock to set in as calls for backing down
the surge spread just as fast as information about it. Rather than
bogstandard, symbolic marches and rallies, calls to action centered on
the alleged operation's headquarters, Coast Guard Island. The small
military base on suburban Alameda had one road and port in and out of
it, raising the possibility that we could, indeed, stop ICE from
entering our communities.
Believing that troops would need several days to ready operations,
dozens descended on the intersection leading into Coast Guard Island on
Thursday, October 23rd by 7am. Around 7:15am, a line of ICE and unmarked
government vehicles made their way to the marching picket. The mighty
but small crowd couldn't hold back the vehicles as aggravated agents
hopped out of their caravan to deploy flashbang grenades and shoot at
least one demonstrator in the face with a pepper ball. Agents roared
onto the base as dozens more protestors arrived. By midmorning, hundreds
filled in all four crosswalks of the intersections and a range of
vehicles made makeshift blockades to protect marchers from oncoming
traffic. Nothing was going in, nothing coming out.
The spectacular, semi-successful shutdown came in part thanks to the
liberal coalition Bay Resistance and its connected interfaith
community's calls to action. Candlelight vigils were the latter's
original declarations, but even clergy and congregants couldn't stay on
the sidelines while the administration threatened to unleash ICE on our
towns. Marches called by coalitions of organizations across the Bay Area
kept the intersection blockaded for much of the rest of the day.
On the morning of Friday, October 24, dozens descended once again to the
intersection. This time, California Highway Patrol and local police
decked in riot gear cordoned off the area with a one block buffer zone,
preventing protesters from approaching it. By that afternoon, mainstream
media swirled with reports from bureaucrats that confirmed Trump's
Thursday announcement that he had canceled the surge. Given this
announcement came from an administration made up of people who lie as
routinely as they breathe air, Bay Area residents weren't willing to
take Trump at his word. Instead, those who had mobilized committed to
continuing their pressure through the weekend. Even if the surge
wouldn't materialize, we could still spread power, not panic in the face
of its threat.
Demonstrators block the main entrance to Coast Guard Island in Alameda.
While Bay Area residents mobilized in droves on Saturday to sites
anticipated to be hit by ICE operations, the terror squad took advantage
of the operation's 40+ mile perimeter to demand immigrant residents near
the Sacramento suburb of Stockton report to emergency "check-ins." In
communities across the country ICE has deployed this mass round-up
tactic. Once Stockton residents caught wind of the effort, they
mobilized their networks to defend themselves the best they could. On
October 25th, twenty-five people were snatched at these hearings,
twenty-five holes ripped into our social fabric because they were born
on one side of a line in the sand that's enforced at gunpoint.
By Saturday evening, organizers in Stockton shared the devastating news
and requested widespread support to stave off future deportations.
Similarly refusing to recognize the municipal boundaries ICE traverses
to attack us, dozens caravanned to reinforce Stockton residents'
resilient efforts the following day. On Sunday, not a single person was
snatched.
These confrontations didn't materialize out of thin air; they had been
long in the making.
Since Trump's inauguration, organizing across the Bay Area with support
from comrades across the state and country has flourished. Seasoned
trainers and recently educated residents have led innumerable
know-your-rights trainings and conversations with as many people.
Heeding the National Day Laborer Organizing Network's call, hundreds
have sustained Adopt-A-Corner efforts. Foot and car patrol training
sessions and how-to's for ICE-proofing workplaces occur almost daily.
Neighborhood councils and popular assemblies have set up hyperlocal
efforts to warn about and respond to incursions into their
neighborhoods. Employees across the Bay Area have generated safety plans
to protect each other and customers, with some taking action at a
moment's notice. Hundreds of doors have been knocked, thousands of "ICE
Not Welcome" signs hung, and tens of thousands of Red Cards and Yellow
Cards distributed.
Bay Area residents face down an aggressive federal agent outside of
Coast Guard Island.
Much of these efforts have built upon and synergized with the brave
efforts by courtwatch defenders. After ICE agents began targeting
immigration courthouses in San Francisco and Concord with sneak attacks
on defendants in late May, courtwatchers began building infrastructure
to protect immigrant defendants on their way to hearings. On nearly
every day of the week, defense efforts outside courtrooms pair with
longstanding court accompaniment efforts led largely by faith
communities inside them. Over the last several months, courtwatchers
have documented near-zero deportations of court attendees.
In short, mass resistance and movement-building to defend immigrants and
all our communities is an everyday feature of Bay Area life. The
spontaneous rebellion that would have transpired against this news, no
matter how valiant, was unlikely to temporarily push back a white
supremacist presidency hellbent on mass deportations now without those
months of day-in, day-out preparation.
We know this reprieve is temporary. Another "crisis" will come along
that will inspire the Trump regime to set its sights on us once again.
When that comes, this victory will carry us into the next struggle that
will keep our neighbors, coworkers, and classmates safe-a kind of safety
no state can provide.
https://www.blackrosefed.org/everyday-organizing-bay-area-ice/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Local reflects on the organizing that made recent mobilizations to
oppose a "surge" of federal agents in their region both possible and
successful.]---- Between October 22nd and 26th, the Bay Area
successfully stood down a planned incursion of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) officers and operations. While an official narrative
has emerged that backroom maneuvering by local tech capital reversed
plans for the "surge," this version of events leaves out how Bay Area
residents mobilized forcefully en masse to protect one another. Far from
a spontaneous response to an immediate crisis, political and social
movement organizations had been diligently preparing for this moment
since Trump's 2024 electoral victory.
In line with his attacks on other liberal bastions, Trump has regularly
condemned San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley for their poverty,
homelessness, manufactured crime crisis, and resistance since his first
administration. The administration has particularly directed its ire at
Oakland, where former House Representative Barbara Lee won the mayorship
in 2025. Alongside its assault on immigration and "DEI purges" in
bureaucratic leadership, the administration barely hides its white
supremacist motives.
It was no surprise, then, when on Wednesday, October 22nd rumors that
his administration was planning to "surge" the region over the upcoming
weekend with 100 to 1,500 federal law enforcement officials for an
anti-immigrant "invasion" started pinging between Signal loops, WhatsApp
groups, and social media. When ICE began its terror campaign at
courthouses in San Francisco and Concord, word spread similarly before
mainstream outlets verified the reporting's veracity.
Bay Area residents march against the Trump administration's promised
"surge" of federal agents to the region.
Timelines left little room for shock to set in as calls for backing down
the surge spread just as fast as information about it. Rather than
bogstandard, symbolic marches and rallies, calls to action centered on
the alleged operation's headquarters, Coast Guard Island. The small
military base on suburban Alameda had one road and port in and out of
it, raising the possibility that we could, indeed, stop ICE from
entering our communities.
Believing that troops would need several days to ready operations,
dozens descended on the intersection leading into Coast Guard Island on
Thursday, October 23rd by 7am. Around 7:15am, a line of ICE and unmarked
government vehicles made their way to the marching picket. The mighty
but small crowd couldn't hold back the vehicles as aggravated agents
hopped out of their caravan to deploy flashbang grenades and shoot at
least one demonstrator in the face with a pepper ball. Agents roared
onto the base as dozens more protestors arrived. By midmorning, hundreds
filled in all four crosswalks of the intersections and a range of
vehicles made makeshift blockades to protect marchers from oncoming
traffic. Nothing was going in, nothing coming out.
The spectacular, semi-successful shutdown came in part thanks to the
liberal coalition Bay Resistance and its connected interfaith
community's calls to action. Candlelight vigils were the latter's
original declarations, but even clergy and congregants couldn't stay on
the sidelines while the administration threatened to unleash ICE on our
towns. Marches called by coalitions of organizations across the Bay Area
kept the intersection blockaded for much of the rest of the day.
On the morning of Friday, October 24, dozens descended once again to the
intersection. This time, California Highway Patrol and local police
decked in riot gear cordoned off the area with a one block buffer zone,
preventing protesters from approaching it. By that afternoon, mainstream
media swirled with reports from bureaucrats that confirmed Trump's
Thursday announcement that he had canceled the surge. Given this
announcement came from an administration made up of people who lie as
routinely as they breathe air, Bay Area residents weren't willing to
take Trump at his word. Instead, those who had mobilized committed to
continuing their pressure through the weekend. Even if the surge
wouldn't materialize, we could still spread power, not panic in the face
of its threat.
Demonstrators block the main entrance to Coast Guard Island in Alameda.
While Bay Area residents mobilized in droves on Saturday to sites
anticipated to be hit by ICE operations, the terror squad took advantage
of the operation's 40+ mile perimeter to demand immigrant residents near
the Sacramento suburb of Stockton report to emergency "check-ins." In
communities across the country ICE has deployed this mass round-up
tactic. Once Stockton residents caught wind of the effort, they
mobilized their networks to defend themselves the best they could. On
October 25th, twenty-five people were snatched at these hearings,
twenty-five holes ripped into our social fabric because they were born
on one side of a line in the sand that's enforced at gunpoint.
By Saturday evening, organizers in Stockton shared the devastating news
and requested widespread support to stave off future deportations.
Similarly refusing to recognize the municipal boundaries ICE traverses
to attack us, dozens caravanned to reinforce Stockton residents'
resilient efforts the following day. On Sunday, not a single person was
snatched.
These confrontations didn't materialize out of thin air; they had been
long in the making.
Since Trump's inauguration, organizing across the Bay Area with support
from comrades across the state and country has flourished. Seasoned
trainers and recently educated residents have led innumerable
know-your-rights trainings and conversations with as many people.
Heeding the National Day Laborer Organizing Network's call, hundreds
have sustained Adopt-A-Corner efforts. Foot and car patrol training
sessions and how-to's for ICE-proofing workplaces occur almost daily.
Neighborhood councils and popular assemblies have set up hyperlocal
efforts to warn about and respond to incursions into their
neighborhoods. Employees across the Bay Area have generated safety plans
to protect each other and customers, with some taking action at a
moment's notice. Hundreds of doors have been knocked, thousands of "ICE
Not Welcome" signs hung, and tens of thousands of Red Cards and Yellow
Cards distributed.
Bay Area residents face down an aggressive federal agent outside of
Coast Guard Island.
Much of these efforts have built upon and synergized with the brave
efforts by courtwatch defenders. After ICE agents began targeting
immigration courthouses in San Francisco and Concord with sneak attacks
on defendants in late May, courtwatchers began building infrastructure
to protect immigrant defendants on their way to hearings. On nearly
every day of the week, defense efforts outside courtrooms pair with
longstanding court accompaniment efforts led largely by faith
communities inside them. Over the last several months, courtwatchers
have documented near-zero deportations of court attendees.
In short, mass resistance and movement-building to defend immigrants and
all our communities is an everyday feature of Bay Area life. The
spontaneous rebellion that would have transpired against this news, no
matter how valiant, was unlikely to temporarily push back a white
supremacist presidency hellbent on mass deportations now without those
months of day-in, day-out preparation.
We know this reprieve is temporary. Another "crisis" will come along
that will inspire the Trump regime to set its sights on us once again.
When that comes, this victory will carry us into the next struggle that
will keep our neighbors, coworkers, and classmates safe-a kind of safety
no state can provide.
https://www.blackrosefed.org/everyday-organizing-bay-area-ice/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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