(BCN) –More than a dozen political and community leaders gathered at Oakland City Hall on Thursday to lambast the arrival of federal agents and to urge people to stay calm in the face of what they characterized as President Donald Trump’s latest provocation.
During a news briefing led by Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, a veritable who’s who of East Bay leadership responded to the arrival of federal agents at Coast Guard Island in the Oakland Estuary. Lee said she convened the gathering as a show of regional unity in the face of the federal government’s “escalated rhetoric and enforcement posture” in the Bay Area.
“These federal actions are not about public safety,” Lee said. “They’re political stunts designed to divide and to intimidate. Oakland will not take the bait. We will remain calm, focused and united.”
“We will not allow outsiders to create chaos,” she said.
Lee said that despite the fact that Trump has apparently called off a planned “surge” of National Guard troops that was planned for this weekend in San Francisco, she doesn’t know what his plans are for Oakland and neighboring communities.
“There’s no information we can bring to you today to bring you up to date on what plans they have in place but we are moving forward with our plans and we are prepared,” said Lee, who called the situation “very fluid.”
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson and Oakland Police Assistant Chief James Beere said they wanted to make sure people know that their departments don’t help federal immigration agencies and don’t collect information about people’s immigration status.
They also said that local law enforcement is unable to prevent federal agents from operating in the community, although Beere said that his officers will always wear identifiable uniforms and provide their police credentials to members of the public.
“If anyone attempts to enter your house or detain you and they’re not in uniform or they do not show official credentials, please call 911 immediately,” he said.
Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Denise Saddler said OUSD is a sanctuary district, inside a sanctuary city that’s inside a sanctuary state.
“We stand proudly with our students, our families and neighbors no matter where they come from or what language they speak,” Saddler said. “We do not need outside troops or agents coming into our city to intimidate, bully or separate our families.”
In a message to district families Wednesday, OUSD officials said district staff is prohibited from sharing information about anyone’s immigration status and that immigration agents aren’t allowed on school campuses unless they have a warrant signed by a judge that has been reviewed by the OUSD legal team.
Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, who was there with Supervisor Elisa Marquez, said she and Marquez are both daughters of immigrants and noted that about one-third of the county’s population are immigrants or refugees.
“My parents came from the Philippines seeking economic opportunity and my grandparents came fleeing a dictator in the Philippines, a dictator who was ousted by a people’s power movement and part of my message today is that an organized community is a safe community,” Fortunato Bas said.
She said the county this year has earmarked $7 million to bolster services for immigrants and refugees as federal immigration enforcement increases, including funding for the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership to expand the county’s rapid response hotline to seven days a week.
“We have been witnessing how our neighborhoods become destabilized, our families separated and we have seen the cruelty of the federal government become a reality for our communities,” said Lourdes Martinez of the legal aid organization Centro Legal de la Raza.
She urged people to stay proud of their heritage and remain united in the face of increased federal law enforcement activity that encourages agents to racially profile people based on their skin color, their language and employment.
“Our cultures and our heritage are not political,” Martinez said. “They are who we are. They are our heritage. They are our families, our ancestors. They are our identities and it is what makes us strong and we must continue to stay proud and united in who we are.”
She also said people should know their rights, including the right to remain silent and to keep their doors closed to any law enforcement agent without a warrant signed by a judge. Pastor Michael McBride of The Way Christian Center in East Oakland addressed the president directly.
“We are not in a state of an emergency, you are the emergency,” McBride said. “We are not a city of lawlessness and chaos, Donald Trump, you are an agent of chaos. You are the wrecking ball that has been unleashed in our city, in this state and this country.”
“Unlike the East Wing of the White House, Oakland’s walls will not fall back easily,” he said.
People who have seen, interacted with or been detained by immigration officials can call the Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership hotline at (510) 241-4011.
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