This past Tuesday, multiple masked men, reportedly federal agents, brandished a rifle at protesters and a journalist outside San Francisco’s immigration court. One person was pepper-sprayed. A vehicle was driven into the crowd. There was no clear identification, no confirmation these were even ICE agents. It was chaos, and it happened in a city that claims to be a sanctuary.
San Francisco’s Sanctuary Ordinance was passed in 1989, building on its 1985 declaration as a “City of Refuge” for Central American refugees fleeing U.S.-backed violence. The policy was designed to shield immigrants from federal enforcement and ensure no city agency would aid ICE in tearing families apart.
It was bold then. But boldness requires renewal.
In 2025, is San Francisco still living up to that promise?
Not fully.
While the Sanctuary Ordinance prohibits city employees from using public funds to assist ICE unless required by federal or state law, protection often ends where criminalization begins. Individuals with old or minor convictions are frequently excluded from legal defense funds, even if they’ve long been rehabilitated. Rapid response efforts exist, but they’re overstretched. ICE is still operating locally, families are still being separated and the city isn’t moving fast enough.
We applaud the grassroots organizers and legal responders who form San Francisco’s front line when ICE arrives: those running hotlines, showing up at detention centers and providing multilingual support. But these systems, mostly run by community-based organizations, are under-resourced and overburdened.
Where is the City’s leadership?
To be a true sanctuary city in 2025, San Francisco must move from symbolic protection to systemic response and readiness. These gaps in protection demand urgent action. That means:
- Expanding legal defense funds to cover all immigrants facing deportation, regardless of past convictions, mirroring Los Angeles’ expanded Justice Fund.
- Pushing for permanent virtual access to immigration court. Remote hearings during the pandemic kept families safe and reduced ICE encounters. We’ve done it before. We must do it again before more harm is done.
- Creating a citywide family protection protocol with reunification plans, emergency child care, trauma-informed support and temporary housing.
- Mandating transparency and compliance audits across all city departments — including SFPD — to ensure no informal cooperation with ICE occurs.
This is especially critical given recent comments from SFPD Deputy Chief Derrick Lew. As reported by Mission Local, Lew acknowledged that SFPD “may need to protect ICE agents against protesters, or vice versa,” adding, “It’s not going to look right for us… but we don’t want the community to get hurt.”
This blurred line of “neutrality” reveals a troubling reality: when SFPD positions itself between ICE and the community, our sanctuary policy is already being undermined. Not on paper, but in practice.
If the city cannot uphold sanctuary in action, not just in words, what protection do we really offer?
Additional measures are also essential:
- Requiring the Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) to publish an assessment of rapid response capacity, including unmet needs and funding gaps.
- Investing in multilingual Know Your Rights campaigns across transit systems, clinics, schools, and social media.
Public safety cannot be selective, and protection for immigrants must never be conditional.
Sanctuary should mean more than surviving enforcement. It should mean truly belonging.
Immigrant families and communities of color should feel safe walking into schools, calling 911 or seeking food and housing without fear their presence will be questioned or their information shared.
Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles is setting a clear example. When ICE and National Guard units moved into MacArthur Park earlier this month, her office condemned the operation and mobilized a full-scale legal and humanitarian response. Then, on July 7, 2025, she announced a city-funded plan to provide direct cash assistance to families affected by sweeping immigration raids — a recognition that financial loss is part of ICE’s devastation.
These are proactive policies that respond to real needs and fear, as communities brace for what may only increase under this federal administration.
San Francisco’s mayor’s office, by contrast, has remained largely silent in the face of similar threats. That must change.
Sanctuary is not a legacy to rest on. It’s a commitment to renew. With federal uncertainty and ICE operations on the rise, we cannot afford to be passive. Let’s build the systems, fund the defenders and treat every impacted family with the dignity they deserve.
We’re not asking for symbolic sanctuary. We’re demanding real protection.
We deserve leadership that doesn’t just speak, but stands with us in these critical moments. And we are not alone. Across the city, community members, educators, legal advocates, and organizations are calling for urgent action.
Read and sign the open letter demanding stronger sanctuary enforcement and protection for immigrant communities here.
It’s time for San Francisco to match its legacy with action.