On Wednesday, a Coast Guard spokesperson, Petty Officer Graves, confirmed 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. The Coast Guard is supporting the Trump administration’s efforts to track down immigrants in the country illegally.
Berkeley 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 Thursday, 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 Thursday, 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.
11:26 a.m.
About an hour ago, Alameda fire trucks arrived on a medical call and the roughly 18 Coast Guard Security Forces personnel advanced closer to the entrance to the bridge. The crowd of marchers, joined by a protester in a Batman suit, has now dwindled by about a third and has quieted down, but there are still over 100 protesters circling the intersection, chanting, singing, and waving signs.
Several protesters reflected on why they came.
Bill Urban, of East Oakland, who attended the protest with his dog Rosie, said he’d come out of concern over personal liberties. Federal agents had come to the Bay Area “to deprive people of their human rights and terrorize our community,” he said.
Svetlana Cherches, of San Rafael, and Monica Canzonieri, of Berkeley, are coworkers and they walked around the intersection at the entranced to Coast Guard Island Bridge together.
“I’m an immigrant, I came to this country, we worked really, really hard,” Cherches, of San Rafel, said. “The idea that we don’t have enough resources to support our immigrants with healthcare is nonsense. We are one of the richest nations on Earth. We have billionaires. The president is building a fucking ballroom in the White House. We have enough resources to feed and clothe and house and support immigrants.”
Canzonieri spoke more terseley: “Fuck ICE. That’s all I have to say.”
Don Lattin, an Alameda resident who worked for decades as a reporter in San Francisco, said he saw similarities between President Donald Trump and the cult leaders he reported on when he covered religion.
“I’m not against ICE or other federal agents enforcing immigration law here or elsewhere in a lawful manner,” Lattin said. “What got me out here today with my ‘Not my dictator’ sign was my horror at the lawless way Trump’s shock troops have been doing this in Chicago, LA, and elsewhere. Trump is not acting like a president in so many ways that I’ve lost count. He’s acting like a dictator.”
And that’s a wrap of our live coverage.
10:09 a.m.
President Donald Trump has confirmed: no federal troop deployment to San Francisco for now. In a statement posted to Truth Social at 10:03 a.m., he wrote:
“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 in that the Mayor, Daniel Lurie, was making substantial progress. I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around. I told him I think he is making a mistake, because we can do it much faster, and remove the criminals that the Law does not permit him to remove. I told him, ‘It’s an easier process if we do it, faster, stronger, and safer but, let’s see how you do?’ The people of San Francisco have come together on fighting Crime, especially since we began to take charge of that very nasty subject. Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great. They want to give it a ‘shot.’ Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”
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.”
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.
7:55 a.m.
Clergy and others have arrived for the vigil; it appears that at least 150 protesters are now present, including one dressed as Wonder Woman. One protester had his foot run over as he was attempting to block an SUV from driving into the island.
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.
7:20 a.m.
Customs and Border Protection has arrived. Two flash bang devices, which the San Francisco Chronicle later identified as a “Low Roll” stun grenades, were set off — each with a large concussion and then smoke. The protesters scattered, and several CBP vehicles, mostly trucks and SUVs, got through.
The stun devices, manufactured by Defense Technology, carry a warning that they should only be used by trained law enforcement as “improper use of the distraction device unite can result in death or serious bodily injury.”
The Chronicle reported that Jorge Bautista, a pastor with the United Church of Christ in San Mateo, was hit in the face by the pepper round.
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 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 he himself left.
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 Home Depot off High Street in Fruitvale looks quiet. Very few day laborers are gathered along the streets and corners where they usually congregate. Maybe half a dozen street vendors are setting up for the day.
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.
6:08 a.m.
A few more protesters are gathering at the entrance to the bridge.
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 East. 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.
Darwin BondGraham and the Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.
