Left with few resources, immigrant workers and families have turned to students and community-based groups to be their voice against the city, who only months ago vowed to provide a sanctuary for them. Immigration raids however haven’t stopped and continue to threat the livelihood of these San Francisco residents. Somewhere between twenty-six and thirty-two undocumented people were just taken in by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as recently as October 22, 2008.

Community leaders, Stop the Raids Now and students from SF State’s MeCha organization gathered at Ferry Park and marched as a protest against ICE with painted faces, a nod to the recent Dia de Los Muertos celebration.

In April, the city spent $83,000 to launch a campaign to let everyone know that San Francisco was a place where immigrants could feel safe: a “Sanctuary City.” San Francisco aligned itself with both Los Angeles and New York, promising to not fund city activities that would work to deport immigrants.

This message spread wider than the city limits, with press coverage from radio, television, posters and outlets such as CNN and the Los Angeles Times. Church officials and district supervisors came together to stand behind Newsom and his sanctuary policy.

San Francisco’s liberal reputation shone even brighter in the national media spotlight, however, months after the campaign, the issue has quickly disappeared from the general consciousness as ICE raids continue in San Francisco’s Mission, Tenderloin and Excelsior districts.

The label as a sanctuary city never meant anything to ICE. As early as May, the Bay Area Immigration Rights Coalition began receiving reports of raids that were happening all over the Bay Area, in both restaurants and homes.

The most recent raid included eleven people who stand accused of being directly involved in the Mara-Salvatrusha (MS-13) gang. MS-13 is a transnational gang that is made up of Salvadoran immigrants and their descendants, and is thought to number approximately 10,000 members. There are a number of MS-13 "cliques" in the Los Angeles area, primarily east of downtown Los Angeles, according to the FBI.

Instead of the FBI taking control of the situation, ICE has stepped in, further complicating matters.

“As long as young people are scapegoated as gang members, these types of sweeps and police actions will continue and can lead to more fear in the immigrant communities in the Bay Area,” says John Avalos, running for District 11 supervisor.

According to preliminary reports, ICE agents acted in a brutal manner, destroying at least a home and taking electronic devices. Several of these homeowners who have been raided are US citizens.

“The raids and the supporters of the raids want to silence the community. They want people to live in greater fear. People who live in fear are easier to control,” says Avalos.