A Message from the Board of Haven Berkeley Faith Community:
On Tuesday, December 16th, a multi-faith coalition of Bay Area faith leaders and community members participated in a nonviolent direct action at the Northern California ICE headquarters, immigration court, and detention center at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. They were calling for an end to the detention and deportation practices that continue to separate families and harm our communities.
Haven Berkeley’s Lead Pastor, Leah Martens, joined and was a musical song leader for the organized blockade of the building’s entrances, which was established in an effort to close the building for the day. In doing so, she was arrested, cited, and released later that day.
The faith-based action was organized by the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and supported by faith communities across the Bay Area.
In this building on Sansome Street, our immigrant neighbors attend appointments which should be a routine part of maintaining their status as legal residents of the U.S. Instead these law-abiding members of our community are frequently detained without due process and often deported. These deportations regularly separate families and leave children without one or both parents. Sometimes law-abiding, long-time residents of California are deported to countries they have not lived in since they were children, or countries where they have never lived. Further, there have been consistent complaints about inhumane conditions at the detention center located in this building. In November, a federal judge required ICE to improve the inhumane conditions of the detention center, but the complaints have continued. Those in power are consistently failing to respond to concerns and abuses of power reported through normal civil channels. In this situation we may not be able to stop the injustice, but we can at least disrupt it by refusing to cooperate.
The action, which resulted in the arrest of over 40 faith leaders, was successful. Because this group of faith leaders was willing to put their bodies on the line, the building was closed, all appointments were cancelled, and no families were arrested or separated that day.
Why This Matters to Haven:
At Haven, we often say that faith is not just something we believe, but something we practice together. Our community is rooted in the conviction that love must be embodied, that solidarity is a spiritual discipline, and that following Jesus calls us to stand with those most impacted by systems of harm. This action reflects our shared commitment to a faith that resists dehumanization and protects the vulnerable, grounded in the conviction that safety, dignity, and belonging are not privileges, but sacred rights. We understand collective action as an expression of care, and public witness as one way we live out our calling to love our neighbors in tangible ways.
There has been significant media coverage of this action, including reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as coverage from Mission Local, which closely followed the events of the day. We encourage those who want a fuller picture of the action to read these accounts.
You’ll find a video below documenting the action, featuring an original song written by Leah for this moment, along with photos and footage from the day. The song includes the refrain, “If you come for them, you’ll have to go through us,” a collective declaration of solidarity and protective presence.
Haven’s participation in this action flows directly from our commitment to love our neighbors, protect the vulnerable, and nonviolently disrupt systems that cause harm. While not every member of our community will feel called to participate in civil disobedience, we believe it is important to be transparent about why our leaders sometimes choose to put their bodies on the line, and how those choices align with our shared values.
We share this briefing as part of our commitment to transparency and communal discernment. Our hope is to keep our community informed about how we are seeking to live our values faithfully and most notably together, in a time that demands courage, care, and collective responsibility.
If you have questions or would like to talk more about this action, Leah is available and welcomes conversation.