Experts believe National Guard may be sent to Bay Area amid ICE protests, local immigrant arrests
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Protesters in San Francisco and Concord on Tuesday tried to prevent cars from driving away following reported ICE detentions.
Video shows two separate but similar confrontations between protesters and those believed to be with ICE taking people away.
Lawyer Sean McMahon of the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice says four people were arrested at the Concord courthouse on Tuesday. He calls what he saw in Concord unprecedented and unconscionable.
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UC Berkeley immigration researcher Caitlin Patler agrees.
"It's very uncommon to see ICE apprehend people outside the courthouse," Patler said. "Under past administrations, courthouses were considered sensitive locations just like schools, churches, hospitals."
Experts ABC7 spoke with said that these types of images are very unpopular, but President Trump is doing what he ran on.
"Californians may find this alarming, but for the rest of the country, they believe that he is evicting people who are here without permission, so this is relatively popular this position that is taken," Donna Crane of San Jose State University said.
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There's also a feeling that what played out in Los Angeles with the National Guard could happen in other cities.
"I do suspect that something very similar is likely to unfold here," Crane said.
Melissa Michelson of Menlo College also thinks it's possible we see soldiers or guardsmen in the Bay Area, similar to LA.
"I think President Trump is feeling like this is what we promised," Michelson said. "If he thinks local officials are not cooperating enough and these protests have to be pushed back so he can follow through on his promises, he's going to do it."
At this point though, we have only seen these recent confrontations and protests in support of immigrants and those in Los Angeles.
