Ahead of a planned immigrant round-up operation by federal agents in the Bay Area that seems likely to look like previous operations in Southern California, protesters gathered early Thursday morning outside the agents’ staging area on Alameda’s Coast Guard Island.
A few protesters were already at the gates of Coast Guard Base Alameda at 5 am Thursday morning, as KTVU reports, after confirmation on Wednesday that President Trump’s promised federal operation in the Bay Area would begin its staging there today.
The 67-acre man-made island in the Oakland Estuary that is home to the base is not physically connected to Alameda Island, but is accessible by a two-lane bridge, the entrance of which is off Oakland’s Embarcadero, at Dennison Street, near the Fruitvale and Jingletown neighborhoods. As KTVU reports, traffic on Embarcadero was at a “standstill” by 7:15 am, as the protest grew in size to around 200 or 300 people — and, also, “There were clowns and balloon artists protesting in the street.”
In an aerial view, U.S. Coast Guard personnel stand guard at the entrance to Coast Guard Island as protesters block the road on October 23, 2025 in Oakland, California. Federal agents have arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area for immigration operations. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
A map of Coast Guard Island, via Google, with the pink dot showing where the protest is happening.
There have reportedly already been a couple of injuries, with local pastor Jorge Bautista of Oakland telling KTVU that he had a smoke bomb go off in his face.
“I came to say we’re here in peace,” Bautista told the station. “And he didn’t care. There is nothing else to say, clearly he wanted to cause harm to me.”
As Mission Local is also reporting, a second protester was injured when his ankle was run over by an SUV.
Mission Local posted a brief video that ends with a flash grenade going off, as protesters are shouting “shame” at the bridge entrance, and as white vehicles can be seen hurrying onto the bridge.
As of 9 am, Mission Local reported that the mood had lightened at the protest, and the song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was playing on a loudspeaker.
“The mood has shifted from a stand off in the dark to skipping in the streets — literally, there’s a jump rope. Parents have brought their children,” Mission Local reports.
In an aerial view, traffic backs up as protesters block the entrance to Coast Guard Island on October 23, 2025 in Oakland, California. Federal agents have arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area for immigration operations. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
KTVU spoke to an anonymous federal source who suggested that Customs and Border Protection agents, and presumably ICE agents, will be heading to “pre-identified” Â target locations around the Bay this weekend, which could include Home Depot stores, as they did around Los Angeles. Such actions provoked protester responses that President Trump used to justify the deployment of the National Guard under the pretext that the federal agents required protection.
Rallies and possible marches are planned in San Francisco Thursday, including a rally at 5 pm at Embarcadero Plaza.
This is a developing story.
Top image: Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images