A group of protesters from interfaith groups arrived Tuesday in the predawn hours outside the federal facility at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco where immigrants arriving for immigration court dates have been summarily swept into detention facilities since May.

There were around 100 protesters gathered as part of the demonstration, as Mission Local reported, in the early morning hours of Tuesday, with some chaining themselves together to prevent ICE agents and others from entering the building at 630 Sansome. Protesters were also blocking the Washington Street entrance to the building.

Some protesters, with white pancake makeup on their faces and red paint on their hands to symbolize blood, were displaying signs in the shape of tombstones naming individuals who all died in ICE custody in 2025, including 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe, who died in Los Angeles in September. Others carried signs that said "Dignity and Human Rights for All."

A large banner, held outside the building doors, said, "Our Faiths Teach Us: Love Thy Neighbor and Disrupt Injustice."

As the Chronicle reports, SFPD officers issued an order to disperse just before 10 am, and by 10:30 am, 12 individuals had been arrested.

Officers were reportedly using large metal shears to cut through chains that the protesters had used to link themselves.

Protesters were reportedly chanting "Shame" as faith leaders and other protesters were taken, zip-tied, into the immigration court building by masked federal agents.

"At some point, we as people of faith are being called to not just love our neighbor, but we have to disrupt injustice that’s happening day after day after day,” said Rev. Deborah Lee, co-director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, speaking to KQED this morning. “We cannot sit idly by and see people being marched into the slaughter of immigration detention across our country."

630 Sansome Street has been the site of dozens of protests this year, after it became clear that ICE was acting on orders to detain individuals, regardless of the status of their immigration cases.

A federal judge last month ordered ICE to cease holding immigrants at 630 Sansome due to the inhumane conditions reported there, which included unheated rooms without beds, and no access to showers or sanitary supplies.

Previously: Federal Judge Orders ICE to Stop Holding Immigrants at 630 Sansome Due to Inhumane Conditions