DUBLIN, CA – Hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area residents gathered in the East Bay city of Dublin here, protesting the reopening of a closed prison as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.
AP News reported the former federal women’s prison, known as FCI Dublin, closed in late 2024 after being embroiled in a now-notorious scandal involving the rampant sexual abuse of those incarcerated by prison employees, including a prison chaplain and warden.
In 2022, the AP published an investigation on the prison and its abusive conditions, using documents that detailed how “inmates’ allegations against members of the mostly male staff were ignored or set aside, how prisoners could be sent to solitary confinement for reporting abuse.”
This weekend’s demonstration followed the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration, eyeing closed prisons like FCI Dublin to repurpose as detention centers for those detained by ICE.
Although no formal plans have been announced, Mercury News reported ICE agents were seen visiting the prison in late February, prompting concerns that the facility could be repurposed for immigrant detention.
“When ICE doesn’t have a place to cage people, there are less raids, there are less arrests,” said Susan Beaty, a lawyer for the California Collaborative for Immigrants, to a KTVU reporter on the scene.
The demonstration was sponsored and organized by at least 20 local organizations, according to a flyer for the event, taking place just a few blocks away from the prison on Dublin’s busiest road.
The protest was organized in opposition to the repurposing of FCI Dublin, as demonstrators protested Trump’s wider immigration policy, asserting ICE not only has no place in Dublin, but anywhere.
“WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS,” said one demonstrator’s sign. “STOP Fascist Scapegoating of Immigrants,” said another.
A large banner at the center of the demonstration read: “NOT ONE CENT FOR MASS DEPORTATION.”
Other protesters gathered to critique the Trump Administration as a whole, protesting Elon Musk’s recent influence and Trump’s relations with Ukraine. One protestor even donned a Trump mask and red hat, holding a sign of Trump’s mugshot crossed out.
“ARREST MUSK,” “DEPORT ELON,” and “NOBODY ELECTED ELON” read some of the signs. Another demonstrator displayed a Ukrainian flag, likely in response to the tense meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky last week.
The protest was met with a little counter demonstration, with only three Trump supporters present to oppose the rally. Initially counter-protesting from one of the street corners, they were quickly isolated to a median in the road by an influx of anti-ICE demonstrators.
