Immigrants arrested in S.F. Friday sent to Arizona

Six asylum-seeking men were arrested at the San Francisco immigration court on Friday and flown to Arizona, marking a significant escalation in local immigration enforcement. This incident is the largest single-day arrest from one judge’s docket to date. ICE has not clarified the rationale behind sending detainees out of state, but capacity issues in California likely play a role. The absence of ICE detention centers in the Bay Area has led to recent detainees being transferred to facilities in Central California or Southern California. Historically, many women and children have been sent to out-of-state facilities due to a lack of beds for families in California.

Local advocate Alex Mensing emphasized that the transfers are often a result of ICE exhausting its local capacity. The situation highlights ongoing challenges in the immigration system, particularly for individuals seeking asylum. Mission Local has tracked the detention pathways of 2,123 immigrants arrested in the San Francisco area in recent months.