In this issue:
- SF DA Brooke Jenkins is collaborating with ICE
- Hell No to MAGA’s Budget Swindle
- The People’s Budget: SF must fully fund the Environment Department
- Save the date for NO KINGS!
- Tracking Trump’s attacks on the 1st Amendment
- Help the Roxie Theater buy its building
- Want to help us do this work?
- Upcoming events
SF DA Brooke Jenkins is collaborating with ICE, Using Federal Drug Operation to do an End Run around City and State Sanctuary Laws
DA Brooke Jenkins is using the All Hands on Deck operation to refer immigrants accused of low-level drug offenses to federal authorities who then turn them over to ICE, in violation of both city and state Sanctuary laws.
Here is how it works: A person who has been arrested by SFPD on a drug charge shows up for their initial court hearing. While waiting in the hallway for their hearing to begin, either Federal Marshals or plainclothes DEA agents appear, and they arrest the person for the exact same charges, but this time under federal law. The person is taken to federal prison and the DA drops the state charges. If this person is an immigrant, they are offered a deal: they can either face federal prosecution for their drug offenses, which typically carry much stricter sentences in federal court, or they can take a “Fast Track” deal in which they plead guilty, are sentenced to time served plus one day, and are handed over to ICE the next day.
In the past, ICE would then deport them back to their home country. Given recent changes in federal policies, it’s not clear what has happened to the people who have been “fast tracked” in the last few months. Regardless, this collaboration between the DA’s office and federal officials directly violates our city’s Sanctuary ordinance.
We can’t allow DA Brooke Jenkins to get away with delivering immigrants to ICE.
Call your Supervisor and ask them to hold a hearing about our DA subverting our Sanctuary City Ordinance
For a fully sourced, deeply researched writeup on DA Jenkins’s actions, read more on our blog.
Hell No to MAGA's Budget Swindle!
Through a bewildering fog of illegal firings and agency shutdowns, appropriation bills, debt ceiling bills, reconciliation bills, unilateral tariffs, and now Trump's 2026 Budget proposal, the goals of the MAGA regime remain crystal clear:
- Grant enormous tax cuts to giant corporations and the obscenely rich.
- Massively increase military, police, and anti-immigrant spending.
- Slash domestic spending, the social safety net, and programs that protect and benefit We the People.
- Cripple and gut health, safety, environment, and consumer regulations and oversight so that corporations, institutions, and agencies can lie, cheat, steal, pollute, and discriminate with impunity.
- Revert to, and mandate, the white-supremacist racial hierarchies and Christian fundamentalist social norms of the past—which they label Making America Great Again.
Budgets and appropriations are how policies are actually imposed. If enacted as written, the MAGA regime's budget bills are designed to inflict on the American people a far-right, extremist agenda that is deeply unpopular—even among many of those who voted for Trump.
Tell your Members of Congress: use all your power to oppose this budget.
And read more on our blog.
Call Your Supervisor: SF Must Fully Fund the SF Environment Department
San Francisco’s Environment Department (SFE) is charged with implementing the city’s ambitious Climate Action Plan, and yet its share of the city budget is a few tenths of a percent. For years it got nothing from the city’s General Fund—no wonder our streets are still clogged with gas cars and most of our trash goes to landfill.
Mayor Lurie is planning to drastically reduce the already-paltry amount SFE receives from the General Fund; the $1.5 million it currently receives per year would shrink to $904,000 in FY 2025-26, and then $601,000 in FY 2026-27. SFE’s current funding supports five full-time staff who bring in and manage grant money for work on climate change prevention; cutting that funding means these employees lose their jobs. SFE has received less than $5 million from the General Fund over the past three years, and with that money, has brought $85M in revenues to the city, a massive return on a tiny investment. Indivisible SF signed onto a letter from the Climate Emergency Coalition (CEC) opposing these cuts, asking that the investment be spared so SFE can keep funding the staff positions.
One of the grants started the city's Climate Equity Hub, a collaboration between city departments and community-based organizations to finance homeowners in lower-income neighborhoods so they can replace climate-damaging 'natural' gas power with clean electricity. CEC is asking that an additional $0.1M be added to fund staff for the Hub, or at the very least that the Hub's funding not be cut in future years.
The Mayor will be releasing his budget in the next week or two. The Board of Supervisors will then make recommendations to the Mayor.
We must tell both the Mayor and the Board that cuts to a program that generates a massive return on investment for climate action make no sense.
Save the Date for NO KINGS: June 14 Mass Mobilization
Answering Indivisible National’s call for mass mobilization, Indivisible SF and 50501SF are hosting a No Kings event on June 14, 2025. We are planning for a March and Rally in San Francisco showing our commitment to democracy and the power of We the People.
We have set up our event on Mobilize and have temporarily listed it as Civic Center at 11 AM. Please note that this time and location may change as we begin the planning of our event, and depending on what else is happening in the city that day.
To stay up to date, watch this space or our Mobilize page!
Tracking Trump’s attacks on the 1st Amendment
"But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right."
― The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The MAGA attacks on our democracy include misinformation, disinformation, lies, conspiracy theories, propaganda, and oppression of speech. Corporate media can be bad enough as they are; drip-feed coverage distracts some, demoralizes many, and generates fear and passivity. This is what Trump wants. But he and his cronies will never be satisfied, so they levy constant attacks on the press to demand ever more craven capitulation.
Collectively we must use an array of avenues to keep resisting, including letters to the editor to complain about coverage biased in Trump’s favor and the normalization of Trump’s behavior. We must also record and preserve the chronology of these attacks, lest MAGA censorship erase them from history.
We can be disappointed in our media and still recognize the need to protect them. As in so many things, we must both fight to preserve what’s left and demand more.
The Media Accountability, Balance and Protection (MAB+) group would like to uplift a chronology of Trump’s attacks on press freedom, done spectacularly well by the fine folks at PEN America. They’ve compiled a comprehensive collection of the countless attacks on our First Amendment rights during the first 100 days of the Trump regime, titled “A Five-Alarm Fire for Free Speech: The Trump Administration’s 100 Day Assault on Free Expression.”
We ask you to please bookmark and save this resource. Reference it and share with others. If you think of further nonviolent actions we can take, please share your thoughts on our Slack channel: #media-accountability.
Help the Roxie Theater buy their building!
We’ve happily worked with the Roxie Theater in the Mission on a couple of fronts this year. Last month, the Roxie hosted the showings of “Democracy Noir” that raised money for us. We also rent our current meeting space, 518 Valencia, from them.
Even beyond our own benefit, the Roxie has been a cultural institution in the Mission for roughly a hundred years, having opened under its current name in 1934, and with antecedents going back a bit further.
Now the Roxie is working to raise $7 million to buy the building it occupies and make various improvements and investments in future operations. As of yesterday, the campaign has a little over $1 million left to go.
You can help either by making a one-time gift or becoming a monthly donor to the Roxie. Learn more at Forever Roxie.
Want to help us do this work?
We will plug you in where your skills can do the most good to resist this administration.
If you would like to join and do important work with us, we welcome you! Currently we are in need of volunteers to help with the following:
- Editing submissions to our newsletter (Mondays and Tuesdays)
- Publishing our newsletter with MailChimp, and helping update our website on Newsletter Night (Tuesdays at 5PM).
- Making short-form videos to help educate people on our topics in an accessible way.
- Tracking federal, state, and local legislation and working with our state and local legislatures and Mayor Lurie.
- Organizing our protests and other in-person actions, and scheduling our in-person meetings.
No experience is needed; we will train you and provide everything you need. If you would like to help us, please contact us at [email protected].
Thank you for coming to May Day!
Thank you for showing up for an incredible rally and march on May Day! We stood in power and community with San Francisco workers, immigrants, and everyone who values democracy. See photos by Pro Bono Photo photographers Rachel Podlishevsky and Terry Scussel on the Pro Bono Photo website. |
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Indivisible SF General Meeting: Saturday, May 18, 2-4 PM at 518 Valencia. Join us for an in-person general meeting at 518 Valencia. Space is limited, so we’re requiring people to register in advance. Be sure to register soon on Eventbrite.
Fight for Our Healthcare Phonebank: Thursday, May 8, 12:30-1:45 PM, and Friday, May 9, 12:30-1:45 and 5:30-6:45 PM. The Republican-led Congress is proposing to make devastating cuts to health care programs that could impact 15 million Californians, including children and people with disabilities. To stop the cuts and save lives we need to get a handful of Republican Congressmembers to vote NO on the proposed health care cuts. CADEM will be making calls to voters in CD-40, Congresswoman Young Kim's district, encouraging them to call her office and patching them through right then! RSVP on Mobilize.
Phone Bank with Common Cause to stop the SAVE Act: Thursday, May 8, 2:30-5:30 PM and Tuesday, May 13, 3-5 PM. Join Common Cause for an important phone bank as we mobilize voters to take action against the dangerous SAVE Act and advocate for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. RSVP on Mobilize.
Banned Books Bingo: Thursday, May 8, 4:45-6:30 PM. Come play Banned Books Bingo at The Pig and Whistle, 2801 Geary Boulevard #2803 (near Masonic), and celebrate fREADom of expression! All proceeds go to Island Press. Buy your tickets on Eventbrite.
Stand up for Science and Sanity Protest: Friday, May 9, 12-2 PM. Rally to protest the sweeping assaults by the administration on our scientific research, health care, our universities, and our democracy at Lytton Plaza, 200 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301. RSVP on Eventbrite.
People over Profit: Saturday, May 10, and (almost) every Saturday at 12 PM. Join this weekly, peaceful protest at the SF Tesla Dealership at 999 Van Ness to speak out against Musk’s takeover of the federal government. Details on Mobilize.
2025 Mother’s Day Bridge Walk for Peace, Sunday, May 11, at 12 PM. For the 22nd year in a row, CODEPINK Bay Area will be walking the Golden Gate Bridge for peace on Mother's Day. Join at noon at the southeast side visitor parking lot. Click here for the meet-up location.
Stop the Attack on Federal Workers: Monday, May 12, and every Monday at 12 PM. This weekly protest at the SF Tesla Dealership at 999 Van Ness is organized by Federal Workers United to stand with federal workers. Details on Mobilize.
No More Children Living on the Street Mother’s Day Rally: Monday, May 12, 4 PM. Join the unhoused moms fighting for protection and a stable home for their children. Please RSVP if you can attend. For more history on this campaign, see our call script on the issue.
Emergency Rally to Protect Public Services: Wednesday, May 14, 12 PM. Our public services are on the chopping block while wealthy corporations dodge their taxes and private contractors waste public dollars. As Mayor Daniel Lurie prepares to release his proposed budget, join San Francisco city workers in an emergency rally to say NO cuts and NO layoffs! Lunch will be provided with RSVP. If you are representing a union, please wear your union colors! RSVP here.
Fundraiser roast for SF Pride: Wednesday, May 14, 5:30-8:30 PM. A comedy roast of SF Pride’s Executive Director, Suzanne Ford, with ticket proceeds going to the organization to help put on this year’s event. Buy your tickets here.
Fight For Schools!: Saturday, May 17, 12-1:30 PM. Thousands of educators are coming together across the state to demand a better future for our students and communities. Join them at Embarcadero Plaza to fight back together against the onslaught of federal attacks on public education—including direct threats to school funding, school nutrition programs, and special education. RSVP here.
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This week's social graphics
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If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on social media, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue.
Today’s graphics are a call for a hearing into SF DA Brooke Jenkins’s collaboration with ICE, calling on our Members of Congress to retake the power of the purse, fund SFE, and upcoming events.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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