SAN FRANCISCO — On the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, thousands of Bay Area residents walked out of their schools and workplaces and marched through San Francisco on Jan. 20 to protest what organizers described as authoritarian rule, violence by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the administration’s escalating conflict with Venezuela.
The demonstration was part of a coordinated national walkout organized by Women’s March, with hundreds of actions across the country aimed at disrupting daily routines to oppose the Trump administration’s agenda.
In San Francisco, protesters gathered at Civic Center Plaza and expressed solidarity with communities in Minnesota, where organizers say thousands of ICE agents have been deployed in what they described as a violent occupation.
Speakers and organizers said the protest was intended to defend immigrant communities, queer and transgender people, workers and families, while calling for mass resistance to protect civil liberties and social programs.
The action was organized by a coalition of grassroots groups including 50501 SF, Bay Resistance, Democratic Socialists of America chapters in San Francisco and the East Bay, Indivisible SF, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Bay Area Palestinian Youth Movement, Nodutdol for Korean Community Liberation, and United Educators of San Francisco.
Speakers criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies, cuts to food and heating assistance programs, rising health care costs, and what they described as accelerated environmental destruction.
They also condemned the administration’s foreign policy, saying threats of war and resource extraction were driven by corporate interests while communities in the United States face increasing hardship.
Organizers cited the ICE operation in Minneapolis as a deliberate and racist action directed by the administration, arguing that deaths in ICE custody and during enforcement actions are a predictable consequence of current policies. Protesters named six people they said had died in ICE custody or related enforcement actions in early 2026: Geraldo Lunas Campos, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, Luis Beltan Yanez, Parady La, Keith Porter and Renee Nicole Good. Demonstrators called for an end to mass deportations and for ICE to withdraw from U.S. cities.
“That’s what’s happening in Minneapolis right now, where the working people of the city responded to the atrocities committed in their city by making a plan,” said Jodie Sheffels, a San Francisco school math teacher. “This Friday, January 23rd, there will be no business as usual in Minneapolis—no school, no work, no shopping. The call for a general strike has been taken up by many major unions including the educators. This is the type of bold coordinated action that unions across the country and right here in sf must strive for.”
“How can our lawmakers look us in the eye and tell us there is no money for our schools, no money for housing for our students, no money for healthcare, no money for food—but there are always more billions for the US war machine?” Sheffels said. “We as the working people of San Francisco have no more interest in bombing the working people of another country than we do in lining the pockets of the billionaires who sell the bombs.”
“Federal intimidation and violence isn’t going to silence us,” said Francisco Herrera of Nuevo Sol. “Just this week alone, hundreds of thousands of people have marched on the Department of Justice. Prosecutors are resigning, mayors, governors are challenging the federal government, and we the people are responding to fear with love. The majority of Americans are in favor of abolishing ICE, a 40 point increase from one year ago. We are a growing movement. We are an ocean of humanity in solidarity. Join us.”
“We’ve just lived through a year of horrors, a year of brutality and steps toward dictatorship—steps which would have advanced much more quickly if not for the nonviolent resistance of people across America who contribute in their own ways, big and small, to turn the course of our country back towards justice,” said Peter H. of Indivisible SF. “Each and every one of you has something you can do to help resist Trump and rebuild a free America.”
“In Venezuela, in Iran, in Ukraine, Greenland, Sudan, Congo, Yemen, Myanmar, tensions all over the world are ramping up,” said Aditya B of the Democratic Socialists of America’s San Francisco chapter. “We in the United States are not only experiencing violence and repression at home, but we know our corrupt government and military are responsible for escalating tensions and causing suffering of so many millions all across the globe. Our tax dollars fund this machine. So it’s pretty clear: we have to do something about it.”
“The majority of people reject the US invasion of Venezuela and Trump’s terrorization of our immigrant communities,” said Ramsey Robinson, a Peace and Freedom Party candidate running for governor of California. “Politicians refuse to prosecute the Killer ICE agents that murdered Renee Nicole Good and Keith Porter, despite millions of us demanding it. When Minneapolis goes on a general strike Friday, it will show the world we don’t need billionaires. I’m running for Governor of California with the Peace and Freedom Party because when millions of us unite, we can kick ICE out of our communities, end US wars for good, and finally build a world that serves the people not the billionaires.”
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“The majority of people reject the US invasion of Venezuela”
The people of Venezuela strongly support it. Latest polling shows:
“And now, a poll of 600 Venezuelans conducted for The Economist via mobile app between January 9-13, 2026, and organized by Premise, a research firm based in Virginia, has found a strong majority supported both Maduro’s removal and the U.S. military action, with more than half of respondents indicating their opinion of the U.S. had improved as a result.
A majority of those surveyed in Venezuela supported Trump and the U.S. “running” the country, with just 18 percent opposing it.
Optimism spiked, with nearly four in five reporting they expect political and economic conditions to improve within a year.”
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-boost-poll-venezuelans-11357476
More recent polling – https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/53918-half-republicans-want-us-take-venezuela-oil-january-16-19-2026-economist-yougov-poll
You’re smart enough to see that the poll I cited was of actual Venezuelans, you know the people most affected by the removal of Maduro. They strongly support the action.
Another time I might engage you on this point. Still working on last night’s council meeting article.