Supervisor Jackie Fielder said at a rally Tuesday that San Francisco would put another $1.8 million into immigrant legal defense, a day after video showed several immigration agents surrounding a man in SoMa and arresting him.
“We cannot wait for things to get worse in San Francisco,” Fielder said on the steps of City Hall as over 100 supporters and elected officials gathered around her. Six city supervisors stood alongside Fielder. “We will defend our sanctuary city. Not just in words, but in action.”
Fielder will introduce the funding request at a Board of Supervisors meeting, but said it has unanimous support from supervisors and the mayor.
The announcement also comes days after Mission Local reported that the mayor’s office and Board of Supervisors had failed for two months to respond to a request for the emergency funding from the Bay Area Habeas Network.
The group files habeas corpus petitions that challenge illegal detentions for Bay Area residents — attorneys have been successful in quickly releasing dozens of immigrants from detention. That group will get $125,000 as part of the deal.
The funding will provide support for Bay Area immigration services that are stretched thin due to the increase in arrests since President Donald Trump took office for his second term.
“What we’re seeing right now is the need is more than what the resources are,” said Jennifer Friedman, the manager of San Francisco’s Public Defender’s Immigration Defense Unit.
Besides the pro-bono network of habeas attorneys, funding will go to groups accompanying immigrants to their ICE appointments, and the city’s rapid response hotline for immigration arrests.
The process will likely take a couple of months, but organizations will start planning to hire more staff, said Hillary Ronen, executive director of La Raza Centro Legal and former district supervisor.
“I am elated. It is an unprecedented win,” she said.
Protesters outside of City Hall on October 20, 2026 to protest against ICE in San Francisco. Photo by Zoe Malen.
Board President Rafael Mandelman waived the typical 30-day waiting period before the ordinance can be voted on by the Board of Supervisors. It could be scheduled as soon as Nov. 4, according to Jennifer Ferrigno, Fielder’s legislative aide.
The arrest in SoMa yesterday, along with another arrest at an immigrant from Nicaragua’s ICE check-in the same day, adds to the 3,870 known arrests between the start of President Trump’s administration and the end of July, according to a Mission Local analysis of arrests across 18 major Bay Area cities.