On Wednesday, city officials and Democratic representatives slammed Trump’s latest threats to add San Francisco to that list, with state Sen. Scott Wiener calling the guard deployments an “authoritarian crackdown.”

Outside the downtown ICE office, the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity has a standing presence on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to pray, sing hymns and serve hot coffee and pastries from the streetside of a chain of metal barricades lining the sidewalk.

Along with nonprofits and community organizations and a group of autonomous protesters, IMHI volunteers have been gathering outside the office and immigration court a half-mile away multiple times per week since May, when immigration officials began unprecedented detentions of immigrants who were summoned to court or ICE field offices for mandatory asylum hearings or check-in appointments.

A few violent altercations between federal officials and protesters marked the summer.

The immigration court shut down early one day in June after throngs of protesters rallied outside, and in July, one activist was sent flying from the side of a car driven by ICE officers after a group attempted to block it from leaving with a man detained inside the building.

Cindy McPherson, with the Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity, hugs a friend outside the ICE Field Office in downtown San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2025, as people wait for scheduled check-ins and immigration-related appointments. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

More recently, protesters trailed ICE officials on foot from the courthouse to the field office after a person was detained following their hearing. During the standoff, one U.S. citizen was arrested after slashing the tires on an ICE vehicle, while another was pepper-sprayed unprompted alongside a journalist reporting on the altercation.

But most mornings, like Tuesday, are calm.

As the line of immigrants grew along most of Sansome Street, Jeung and the Rev. Deborah Lee, who heads IMHI, spoke with terrified families, offered prayers of safety and took down asylum seekers’ alien registration numbers and emergency contact information to be passed along to the city’s Rapid Response Network. If they don’t come out of an appointment, the group of immigrant rights organizations connects them to legal representation.

The volunteers greeted and stood with people they recognized, like a grandfather who two weeks ago was instructed to return to his appointment that morning “with documents so we can deport you,” Lee said.

Rev. Deborah Lee (center left) and members of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity gather for a prayer outside the ICE Field Office in downtown San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

“He could get deported to a country that he hasn’t been in since he was 3 years old,” she told KQED. The man was born in Laos but has been in California with his family for 40 years.

“For decades, he’s been here in the Bay Area and contributing,” Lee said. “Our economy needs him, our community needs him, his family needs him — and probably we could say the same thing about every single person in this line.”

He and three others were detained on Tuesday, Lee told KQED.

Across downtown, half a dozen protesters stood outside the multi-use building that houses San Francisco’s immigration court, where they gather on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

A few were set up behind a fold-out table covered in legal resource flyers and red, pocket-sized “Know Your Rights” cards that contain translated scripts immigrants are encouraged to use if they encounter ICE.

Ernesto Reyes holds a sign outside the San Francisco Immigration Court in downtown San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Once a week, the cohort is joined by a troupe of clowns who put on a show mocking immigration officials. Other days, artists sketch chalk drawings on the sidewalks and bands play music.

The group also stations a few people just outside the building’s entrance to offer interpretation and accompaniment to anyone headed to court.

“It’s not all like militarized confrontation as the federal government would have you believe,” said Ernesto Reyes, 27, who’s been joining the protests weekly since June.

“We’re just helping immigrants out by accompanying them and helping them not feel so alone,” they told KQED. As a Spanish speaker, Reyes said they can help immigrants navigate to the right room and explain what’s happening during the proceedings.

People line up outside the ICE Field Office in downtown San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2025, for scheduled check-ins and immigration-related appointments. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

If the person being escorted is detained, they also coordinate with the Rapid Response Network. Even if no one is accompanying a person who is arrested, protesters often try to write down the person’s name or a phone number to call on their behalf as immigration officials escort them from the building.

Reyes credits the protest movement’s presence — and the standoffs with ICE officers on the street — with slowing the pace of enforcement actions at the courthouse. There hasn’t been a detention, they said, in nearly two months.

“The people here make it so much harder and make it cost so much more money for them to do it. And every time that happens, they get more and more discouraged,” Reyes told KQED.

Still, they said, protesters are preparing for increased ICE and federal law enforcement presence. During a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday, Trump called San Francisco “a mess” and said he had encouraged his administration to look at it for future federal law enforcement interventions.

Rev. Deborah Lee (center left) and members of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity gather to share intentions outside the ICE Field Office in downtown San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

In recent days, billionaire Elon Musk and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff joined in with calls for federal troops, raising alarms about acute safety concerns in the city.

Both Reyes and Lee said even if federal forces are deployed, they’ll keep showing up.

“All those mischaracterizations that are being leveled are a way to scare people from bearing witness,” Lee said. “They want to keep people away from these areas; they want people to stop being good neighbors, stop showing love and care.

“I’m not surprised, but it’s a set of lies.”