Margaret Kadifa

1 week ago | missionlocal.org | Margaret Kadifa

Overview: San Francisco’s political elites gathered at the Westin St. Francis hotel Wednesday evening to celebrate the "evolution" of TogetherSF. A who’s who of San Francisco’s political elites gathered at the Westin St. Francis hotel Wednesday evening, sipping cocktails and celebrating the “evolution” of a big-money group that suffered a crushing series of defeats in San Francisco’s elections last year. State Sen.

1 week ago | missionlocal.org | Margaret Kadifa |Gustavo Hernandez |Joe Eskenazi

On the morning after many thousands of anti-Trump, anti-ICE protesters streamed through San Francisco’s streets and millions did the same in hundreds of other cities, a small group of demonstrators were back, early, for a second go. More than 100 people were this morning staking out a building at 478 Tehama St. in SoMa. It houses a detention alternative program of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement— ICE.

2 weeks ago | missionlocal.org | Margaret Kadifa

La Raza Centro Legal’s offices were already bustling Friday by the start of business at 9 a.m. About 40 people were lined up in the organization’s narrow corridors, paperwork in hand, questions for lawyers at the ready. Friday was supposed to be a regularly scheduled drop-in for asylum-seekers who need help with their applications, said Jordan Weiner, legal director of the organization’s Removal Defense Program. But because of recent arrests at court hearings in San Francisco, staff pivoted.

2 weeks ago | missionlocal.org | Margaret Kadifa

Lawyers with the Department of Homeland Security are deploying a novel legal maneuver in an attempt to step up removal of immigrants, immigration lawyers say, dismissing asylum-seekers’ cases and potentially fast-tracking their deportations. This likely happened in the case of at least two men arrested Tuesday by federal immigration agents outside of San Francisco immigration court.

2 weeks ago | missionlocal.org | Margaret Kadifa

When Reem Assil, who owns the eponymous Reem’s Bakery on Mission and 26th, went into the food business, part of her goal was creating a sanctuary — a place that felt like home for people who had to leave theirs. It was a poignant message from Assil, who is Palestinian and Syrian, given what was happening outside of San Francisco City Hall on Monday evening, when she spoke to a crowd of a few hundred as part of an event honoring immigrants’ contributions to the city.