Protests planned as Border Patrol arrives in Alameda for Trump-led San Francisco immigration operation: Live updates

Bay Area activists are planning peaceful protests against the deployment.

Thousands of people logged on to Zoom Wednesday evening for a call to action called “Stay Out of the Bay.” The group Bay Resistance is holding a rally and march Thursday in San Francisco to push back against the presence of Border Patrol agents in the area.

We spoke with Bill Hing, professor of law and migration studies at USF, about increased fear within the immigrant community.

“I’ll be honest with you, a lot of my students go out into neighborhoods and Home Depot parking lots and hand out information. We’ve done presentations about your rights at car washes and schools,” Hing said.

ABC7 asked Hing about the difference between Border Patrol and ICE.

“Border Patrol and ICE agents can arrest people if they have good reason to believe the person is undocumented,” Hing said.

The Trump administration has already sent federal law enforcement to Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles.

“The way I would describe it is a combination of fear and hope that something different will happen, but honestly, I think things are going to get worse in the Bay Area before they get better,” Hing said.

ABC7 News spoke with Gabriel Medina, executive director of La Raza Community Resource Center.

“We’ve been holding the line for power, not panic, for a long time, but I think the threats and the messages have changed in the sense that we’re advising everyone to stay home tomorrow,” Medina said.

In the South Bay, ABC7 News spoke with Huy Tran, executive director of the nonprofit SIREN, who said that whichever federal agency deployed to the Bay Area, they wanted to make their displeasure known.

“Protest is most powerful when it remains peaceful,” Tran said. He added: “When violence breaks out, they’re going to focus on this incident and they’re going to say that’s the justification to send in National Guard troops now.”

Along with a protest Thursday evening, Bay Resistance is holding an afternoon rally in San Francisco with a coalition of community groups.