Protesters are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to stop transferring undocumented people from state prisons and local jails to immigration detention facilities because of the pandemic.
They gathered at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in downtown San Francisco Saturday to demand the release of undocumented immigrants from ICE detention centers across the state.
Immigration activist Judith Garcia says transfers from state prisons and local jails could introduce COVID-19 into immigration facilities.
"They need to stop," Garcia said. "And we need to pressure Newsom and all the politicians to act on it. So these transfers don't keep happening."
On Friday, a federal judge ordered immigration officials to stop sending new detainees to a private facility in Bakersfield with a growing COVID-19 outbreak.