At the November 14 meeting of the Oakland Public Safety Committee, the community rallied after the abrupt removal of the public hearing from the scheduled agenda. A week after this meeting, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf agreed to support ending all cooperation between the Oakland Police Department and ICE.
Mayoral Maneuvering On ICE Raid
Update: On November 21, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf announced that she would support the Kaplan/Brooks proposal to end all OPD cooperation with HSI and ICE.
After the strong showing in Oakland on November 14, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf and OPD chief Anne Kirkpatrick scheduled a special council agenda item on November 28 to discuss the ICE Raid and consider an OPD request for total impunity to work with HSI/ICE going forward simply by defining a raid as “criminal” – before the public hearing on December 5th – and before CM Kaplan and Brook’s resolution for OPD non-cooperation with ICE can be heard.
City Council members Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan had set this item for a committee hearing with the OPD Chief in attendance on 12-5 only to have the Mayor and City Council President do an endaround and try to rush authorize ongoing OPD cooperation with HSI/ICE.
Oaklanders and other Bay Area residents who want sanctuary legislation taken seriously around the Bay should attend. We need to put a stop to this.
Event announcement is here.
Oakland and Berkeley Get More Oversight Of Policing
In a busy night for the Bay Area, both Oakland and Berkeley, cities which will be considering surveillance equipment transparency ordinances in the next month, made important strides towards increasing community oversight of policing and law enforcement.
In Oakland, an overflowing crowd that filled up the full council chamber pushed back against the removal of the Oakland ICE raid public hearing and prevailed: reinstating the hearing for December 5, and starting the process for a revised city policy eliminating future police cooperation with HSI/ICE raids in the city. The group also called for an independent investigation of false statements by the police chief about the raid and the now-terminated memorandum of understanding with ICE.
In Berkeley, acquisitions of military surplus equipment through the DHS 10333 program will now require council approval, an item to address racial profiling in stops data passed unanimously, and the city’s Police Review Commission was given permission to draft up measures to increase their powers, including a possible ballot amendment revising the city charter.
Oakland’s Communities Demand City Response on ICE Raid
Scores of Oakland residents are expected to attend the Tuesday evening meeting of the Public Safety Committee after a public hearing on the controversial August 16 raid was abruptly pulled off the agenda just a few days beforehand.
The public safety committee meeting begins at 6pm.
Oakland Communities Demand City Response On West Oakland ICE Raid
Advocates for immigrant rights have expressed great distress about the Trumpian rhetoric and the increasing rate of detentions and jailing of undocumented immigrants during the first 10 months of the Trump Administration.
On Saturday night, the San Francisco HSI/ICE headquarters looked a little different than usual.
Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan Object To Removal of ICE Raid Report
Earlier today on November 10th, Oakland City Council members Desley Brooks (the chair of the Public Safety Committee) and Rebecca Kaplan, issued a press release objecting to the cancellation of the November 14 ICE Raid hearing.
Kaplan said the action was “inappropriate” and Brooks described it as “troubling”.
The full press release can be read below.
Press Release by Council Members Brooks and Kaplan
KPIX Coverage
On November 14, citizens of Oakland will still gather at the Public Safety Committee to have a long overdue public conversation about OPD cooperation with HSI and ICE. The meeting will begin at 6pm at Oakland City Hall.
Oakland City Council Pulls ICE Raid From Public Safety Agenda
After Bay Area media reported on the complaint filed against the OPD chief for making false statements to the public about the West Oakland ICE Raid, the Rules Committee abruptly pulled the item from the November 14 Public Safety agenda – canceling the public hearing they scheduled on October 12.
However, there is a thing called Open Forum.
And on November 14 at City Hall, it will be about future OPD cooperation with ICE Raids in our sanctuary city, and what community oversight of law enforcement looks like.