Protesters gathered outside the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse downtown on Thursday morning. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 221 has been organizing similar protests at the courthouse every week for months, calling for an end to the Trump administration’s immigration policies and enforcement.
This protest, however, was just one day after federal agents shot and killed a U.S. citizen in her car in Minneapolis. Renee Nicole Good was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on Wednesday.
Before the protest in San Diego could get started, however, an organizer named Dan Shook-Castillo was briefly detained by federal agents. He was eventually released and given a parking ticket for “parking on or adjacent to federal property in an unauthorized location.”
“I was dropping off water when a (Department of Homeland Security) DHS agent approached my vehicle, and told me that it is a non-parking (location). He asked me — he told me that I should be getting along. And then he asked for my ID, which I did not feel was warranted and when I said, ‘why do I need to show you my ID?’ I initially refused and then I was handcuffed,” Castillo said.
Castillo was wearing his purple SEIU Local 221 T-shirt when he was approached by federal agents and detained.
In response to questions from KPBS, the Federal Protective Service (FPS), provided the following statement:
"The individual was cited at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in San Diego for violating federal parking regulations by parking in a clearly marked red curb zone and disregarding posted "NO PARKING" signs. Despite repeated requests from Federal Protective Service (FPS) Law Enforcement Officers to move his vehicle, the individual refused to comply and became verbally uncooperative. For safety reasons, FPS Officers temporarily placed the individual in handcuffs. He was later cited and released without further incident.”
FPS oversees the security of federal buildings as a federal law enforcement agency within DHS.
SEIU Local 221 released a statement prior to the event.
“Protesters in San Diego are calling for an end to violent, out-of-control immigration operations with ICE raiding communities and tearing families apart. The San Diego group says fear, displacement and dehumanizing politics used to attack and kill working people must stop.”
The federal courthouse downtown is where DHS has held immigration detainees in San Diego.
In November, Democratic U.S. House Representatives Juan Vargas, Scott Peters, Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs toured the facility after weeks of being denied access.
This facility is also where Ukrainian immigrant Viktoriia Bulavina was held for days after being arrested following a green card interview in December.
Soon after he was released, Castillo took the stage to address the crowd.
“You know what? This is proof … that this is getting to them,” Castillo said. “They are scared of us. They are scared of our power. They are scared of what it looks like when we realize there is more of us than them.”
Organizers say the protest on Thursday was larger than usual, and there were new faces in the crowd.
