After a week of unrest over federal raids in Southern California and ICE arrests that shut down immigration courts Tuesday in Concord and San Francisco, immigrant communities in Contra Costa County are bracing for what might happen next.
Tensions are high as Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump square off over the deployment of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles. The state has filed a lawsuit contending that the deployment is unconstitutional, and a hearing is set for Thursday. In San Francisco, police detained more than 200 people on Sunday and Monday while they were demonstrating against local Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detentions, and, on Tuesday afternoon, the city’s immigration court had to be closed.
The immigration court that serves Contra Costa County and many others in Northern California was also closed Tuesday after ICE officials came inside the courthouse to arrest four asylum seekers. Those at the courthouse Wednesday said the arrests have become a regular occurrence.
The heightened activity has Richmond residents and public officials on edge, with the city of Richmond posting on social media Monday a request asking that people avoid spreading rumors about “imminent” ICE activity in the Bay Area, including Richmond, saying “While these concerns are serious, spreading unverified information can cause unnecessary panic.”
According to Stand Together Contra Costa Executive Director Ali Saidi, Tuesday’s Concord courthouse arrests happened as asylum seekers attempted to attend their regularly scheduled hearings. The organization is the county-funded rapid response immigration legal defense program.
What to do if you see a federal immigration action taking place
If you see federal immigration officials in Contra Costa County or who know someone who has been detained or is facing deportation proceedings, advocates ask that you call Stand Together Contra Costa at 925-900-5151 or visit their website. You can also visit www.ccijustice.org/carrn to find local rapid response networks, groups that mobilize to alert communities when an action is taking place.
Saidi said that members of Stand Together Contra Costa’s network were at the courthouse and offered “brief legal consultations” with the arrested asylum seekers to help plan their next legal steps.
“The government attorneys for the (Department of Homeland Security)/ICE moved to dismiss their cases such that these asylum-seekers would no longer have an opportunity to have an immigration judge hear their cases,” Saidi told Richmondside in an email. “ICE arrested these individuals inside the courthouse, directly outside of the courtroom, so that they could be detained and shipped to processing centers and fast tracked for detention and deportation without a full hearing before an immigration judge.”
All people in the United States, regardless of immigration status, have certain rights and protections under the Constitution.
The California Values Act “means the police cannot ask you about your immigration status or deport you solely on immigration charges,” according to East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. “If you are arrested, the police cannot transfer you to ICE custody unless you have a felony or high level misdemeanor conviction (DUI; sale, possession, or use of drugs; domestic violence; robbery; murder).”
Saidi said he believes ICE’s tactics are meant to bypass the court system and legal process.
“When immigrants are made fearful of going to court through tactics such as these, due process and rule of law are diminished not just for our immigrant community members, but for everyone who relies on constitutional protections,” Saidi wrote. “ICE’s shameful tactics endanger everyone in the United States by undermining a critical element of a democratic society: everyone’s right to their day in court.”
Saidi added that the four who were arrested were just a fraction of the cases heard Tuesday, as many proceeded with their hearings as planned and were not targeted by ICE.
“Cases continue to move forward in immigration court, and we are still winning many asylum cases,” he said. “To our immigrant community members with upcoming court dates, we want you to be prepared to exercise your rights and respond with power, not panic. These tactics are designed to make migrants afraid to come to court so that people give up on their asylum cases.”
Rhea Laughlin, director of Rising Juntos, an organization that works with families and children across Contra Costa County to advocate for racial justice and immigrant rights, said that although she has not heard of any ICE enforcement actions happening in Richmond, she and members of her organization were at the court in Concord and saw the arrests.
“It is a hard time,” she said. “Our state is under siege. We call on all our neighbors to resist these violent and traumatic attacks on our community.”
City, county officials denounce Tuesday’s ICE arrests
Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who represents portions of west Contra Costa County including Richmond, told Richmondside in a statement that local communities are opposed to ICE’s “aggressive” actions against undocumented residents.
“While we all support public safety, ICE has been detaining individuals who have not committed a crime or have a low level traffic offense,” he said. “They are using public safety as an excuse to harass and break up hard working families.”
Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez confirmed that city officials participated in a phone call earlier this week with state and local officials and nonprofit organizations to discuss how cities could respond if ICE enforcements escalate in the Bay Area.
“On Sunday, I joined a call organized by Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Marquez, with more than 300 participants from across the Bay Area, including mayors, supervisors, council members, community organizations, and advocates,” Martinez said. “We came together to understand what’s happening in Los Angeles and how we can support each other in the Bay Area. The message was clear: spread power, not panic.”
Martinez also pushed back on the federal rhetoric about ICE protecting public safety, saying he was “outraged” that ICE was targeting non-criminal undocumented residents.
“Despite the harmful narratives pushed by right-wing media, these are our non-criminal neighbors: their children go to school with ours, they shop at the same stores, they contribute to our cities and economy,” he said. “And now, they are being forcibly removed from the neighborhoods they call home. These actions do not make us safer — they do the opposite. They tear apart families, violate our civil rights, destabilize support networks, and weaken the fabric of our communities.”
District 6 Richmond City Council member Claudia Jimenez described the recent arrests as “harmful and immoral” and said that the actions of the federal government are creating instability among the local immigrant community — both documented and undocumented residents.
Jimenez, who has long worked locally to advocate for undocumented residents, including during the 2017 protests against the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office’s collaboration with ICE, said she knows that the increased enforcement “tears apart families” and that Richmond has attempted to show its solidarity with undocumented residents by strengthening its sanctuary city policy and setting aside $1 million from surplus funds from the 2024-2025 budget for immigrant legal aid.
She also commended Richmond Police Chief Bisa French for her stand against collaborating with ICE.
“It is important for the community to know,” she said, adding that she hopes that Richmond residents with legal status volunteer with rapid response efforts. “If you are a person who wants to support our undocumented residents, please contact me or contact the organizations that are training community members who want to be in the rapid response network.”
Rapid response networks are coalitions of various nonprofit organizations whose members verify reports of ICE operations and mobilize to alert the local community.
Jimenez also said that advocates with Reimagine Richmond will be hosting a rapid response community coordinating meeting next Friday. The organization confirmed the workshop is planned for 7 p.m. and said a location for it will be announced in the coming days.
Both Jimenez and Saidi emphasized the importance of not spreading unverified reports of ICE enforcement that can potentially cause panic among the community.
“It is important for everyone to know their rights, to have a safety plan, and not to engage in fear mongering,” Saidi said. “Instead, call your rapid response network to report if you have personally witnessed ICE enforcement activity in your community and we will seek to confirm whether there was any ICE enforcement. If so, we will connect those who are impacted with relevant legal and community resources. Find and contact your local rapid response network at www.ccijustice.org/carrn.”
Residents of west Contra Costa County will join people nationwide participating in “No Kings” rallies on Saturday. (Read our What’s Up column for locations or click the map to find one near you.) The protests, organized by local Indivisible members and other groups active in immigrants’ rights, are taking aim at the president’s immigration crackdown on undocumented residents and other executive actions described as “authoritarian excesses.”
