Demonstrators pitched five tents, a small pavilion and a section of chain-link fence with barbed wire outside San Francisco’s U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services office Monday night — the latest in a string of “Occupy ICE” protests throughout the country.
“We saw occupations happening in Portland, Philly and Atlanta, and we thought, ‘Hey, quick protests are good, but we need something a little bit more,’” said Mark Jacobs, who had crossed the bay from Oakland to camp out.
He was among perhaps three dozen people who gathered at the Financial District office building, spreading their makeshift camp along half a block of Sansome Street. A small group of San Francisco Police officers and Department of Homeland Security officials stood alongside the protest when it began at 6 p.m., hours after a separate demonstration in which participants formed a human chain around the building.
The police departed about 7 p.m. after unsuccessfully trying to speak to the campers.
Adrienne Fong, an activist who helped set up the Occupy San Francisco encampment seven years ago in Justin Herman Plaza, said Occupy ICE group seemed younger and more diverse than its antecedent.
She and others see the current resistance movement as an offshoot of Occupy, but with a message that seems more immediate than frustration over income inequality.
The idea of dismantling the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has long been stewing in the more progressive wing of the Democratic party. But in recent weeks its become a mainstream rallying point, as politicians condemn President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy of detaining immigrant families at the border and separating undocumented children from their parents.
On Saturday, more than 700 marches and rallies took place throughout the nation, many featuring signs and banners with the slogan “Bring Families Together.” Thousands of people attended the march from Dolores Park to Civic Center in San Francisco, which was led by folk singer Joan Baez.
“I’ve seen in the news more politicians coming around to this slogan of ‘Abolish Ice,’ and I think that’s a win,” said Steven Goldberg, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America’s San Francisco chapter who attended the Occupy Ice campout.
He said that organizers started planning San Francisco’s encampment a couple weeks ago, and that they hope it will grow.
“There have been some planning meetings, there’s been a lot of back-channeling,” he said.
Jacobs said the organizers were using social media to urge more people to come out. To that end, they created an “OccupySFICE” Twitter handle that had drawn 325 followers by 9:30 p.m. on Monday.
Though the camp remained small, it appeared to have lots of support. Shortly after 8 p.m., one of the organizers sent out a triumphant tweet — a care package had arrived with 1,000 veggie burritos.
Just arrived at #OccupyICESF: 1000 veggie burritos pic.twitter.com/yVPtyUmbv7
— actually it’s good (@yungchomsky) July 3, 2018
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @rachelswan
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