Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Thursday evening, marching and chanting in front of San Jose City Hall to protest a reported federal immigration crackdown in the Bay Area, capping a day that saw an abrupt turnaround on plans to send agents to the region and a dramatic standoff in the East Bay.
The demonstration followed earlier clashes between protesters and federal personnel in Oakland over a reported influx of over 100 federal agents into the Bay Area. After the demonstrations had already begun early Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that he would back down from a planned deployment into San Francisco.
Still, as the sun waned Thursday afternoon, it was unclear whether the rest of the Bay Area would also be free from federal enforcement efforts.
“This retreat is proof of people power,” said Uriel Magdaleno, an organizer with Community Service Organization San Jose who characterized the threat to send federal enforcement to the Bay Area as intimidation and condemned the use of law enforcement against protesters. “We will not back down, we will not tolerate ICE in our neighborhoods, we will mobilize in masses.”
Still, many protesters across the Bay met the announcement with skepticism.
“I understand that he rescinded his intent to invade us, but he’s not exactly a trustworthy leader whose word we can depend on,” said Rebeca Armendariz, director of movement building for the advocacy organization Working Partnerships, at the San Jose protest. “The community feels that. We feel that, and so we’re going to keep organizing, keep preparing and providing resources and services to our community so they’ll be empowered.”
Some attendees set up a table offering resources including contact information for the Rapid Response Hotline and red “know your rights cards” bearing instructions for how to behave if confronted by ICE.
Protestors carried signs reading “full rights for all immigrants” and “abolish ICE.” Others marched and joined in chants of “when ICE shows up, don’t freeze” and “from Chicago to the Bay, immigrants are here to stay”
Several local politicians and government officials joined the protesters, emphasizing the role of the county government in resisting the efforts of the Trump administration to crackdown on immigration or pull back federal funding.
“We take care of each other. We watch out for each other,” said Santa Clara Supervisor Betty Duong, maintaining that Santa Clara County was the first county to not cooperate with ICE. “We will not have federal interference here — not today, not ever. We will not allow it.”
Tony LoPresti, County Council for Santa Clara County, said that the county has sued the Trump administration six times and that the county would do everything in its power to prosecute when employers take advantage of immigrant workers.
“The law still matters,” he said. “If the federal government won’t obey and enforce the law, we sure as hell will.”
The protest was not the only scheduled event in the Bay Area. Crowds were also being called to Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco for a similar rally at the same time. Bay Resistance, which organized the event, said in a statement on social media that “we are ready to stand with our communities against any ICE escalation or deployment of national guard elsewhere in the bay.”
This is a developing report. Check back for updates.