A city-owned garage in the Financial District has been used to park federal immigration vehicles, the city confirmed Friday.
What the city says
"We are aware that the [General Services Administration] has assigned parking spaces to the Federal Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency in the SFMTA's Golden Gateway garage, as it is located on Clay Street in very close proximity to the ICE field office," SFMTA communications director Parisa Safarzadeh told Mission Local.
"Any use of city garages to stage ICE enforcement activity is not in line with the SFMTA and city values," she wrote. The agency is working with the City Attorney's Office "to explore all options related to our contractual agreement."
How the arrangement works
The Golden Gateway Garage at 250 Clay St. is one of 12 city facilities in Garage Group B. In 2022 the SFMTA Board of Directors awarded the contract to run that group to IMCO Parking, according to the board's resolution. The contract runs up to nine years and is capped at $180 million. According to Mission Local, IMCO subcontracts part of the garage to the federal General Services Administration, and GSA then assigns spaces to ICE. SFMTA said it knew about the GSA subcontract when it was signed. However, the contract does not say which federal agency GSA puts there.
The sanctuary question
Mission Local saw a barricaded section filled with unmarked cars and white vans with federal plates on Friday. Activists who track ICE activity around the federal building at 630 Sansome St. say agents have worked out of the garage for at least a year. Angela Chan, assistant chief attorney in the public defender's office, helped write the city's sanctuary laws. She said the arrangement may violate city and state sanctuary laws. "SFMTA is responsible for overseeing city-owned garages and ensuring they are not used to facilitate ICE operations, directly or through private contractors," she said.
The city has not said whether it can end the arrangement.