protesters temporarily block deportation bus from leaving downtown san francisco

Yesterday more than 100 protesters, many of whom were undocumented immigrants, surrounded an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bus carrying shackled detainees and deportees. Approximately 20 of the protesters blocked the bus despite threats from federal immigration officials that they could face felony charges. According to Rebecca Bowe’s San Francisco Bay Guardian article,

At one point, ICE officials told the activists that the protesters could be charged with felony false imprisonment if they did not get up and move. But in the end, federal officers merely escorted them away from the bus and released them on the sidewalk around the corner.

No one was arrested. Due to the Sanctuary Ordinance, which prohibits San Francisco employees from helping ICE with immigration investigations or arrests (unless such help is required by a warrant or by law), no one was handed over to federal agents either. The protesters promised to block more deportation buses in the future.