Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has never been a fan of President Trump. She calls him the nation’s Bully-in-Chief. Now Schaaf is taking on one of the president’s core initiatives–the arrest and expulsion of immigrants without legal status, whether or not they have committed crimes or threaten public safety.
On Saturday (2/24) Mayor Schaaf issued an unprecedented alert to the people of Oakland that sweeping raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were about to commence. She said she was “sharing this information publicly not to panic our residents but to protect them.”
Since then ICE has announced the arrest of more than 150 undocumented immigrants in northern California, stretching from the Central Valley to the San Francisco Bay Area, including Oakland. The acting director of ICE, Tom Homan, compared Mayor Schaaf to a criminal gang member. “What she did,” said Homan on Fox & Friends, “is no better than a gang lookout yelling, ‘Police!’” He said the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing her actions.
Libby Schaaf took office in 2015. Since then her priorities have included keeping sports teams in her city, the reform of the troubled police department and now the protection of the immigrant community, which she says makes up about a third of Oakland’s population.
Oakland along with San Francisco and other communities have declared themselves to be sanctuary cities, where local law enforcement is enjoined from cooperating and facilitating the work of ICE. In January, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation making California a sanctuary state.
President Trump recently threatened to pull federal immigration officials out of California, saying the state would soon be begging the feds to help deal with criminal aliens. But California’s elected officials appear undeterred and are generally acting to protect their immigrant communities.
Reacting to Trump’s threat, San Francisco’s new mayor Mark Farrell said the city would not be coerced into betraying its immigrant community. “We are a sanctuary city,” he said, “because we know our city is safer when law-abiding residents, regardless of immigration status, are active members of our community.”
Mayor Schaaf adds, “I know that Oakland is safer when we share information, encourage community awareness and care for our neighbors.” For her warning, Schaaf has received both praise and fierce criticism, including threats to her safety.
Calling her warning “beyond the pale,” ICE’s Tom Homan said, “This is a whole new low–to intentionally warn criminals that law enforcement is coming.” ICE says “about half” of the 150 arrests were of people with criminal records but declined to say how many involved crimes of violence or threats to national security.
On Wednesday (2/28) Schaaf declared she had no regrets. And she suggested that ICE and the Trump administration were being devious to say they were going after criminals when in fact they were pursuing a program to rid the country of law-abiding immigrants whose crime was being here without proper documentation.
“I was sharing information in a way that was legal–was not obstructing justice. And it was an opportunity to ensure that people are aware of their rights,” she said. “We believe our community is safer when families stay together.”
Listen to Schaaf discuss immigration action in California here in an excellent interview on KQED Radio.