Privacy

Surveillance for you but not for us...: "A day after ICE agents swooped into San Francisco Immigration Court to take four people into custody, the federal government sent an unusual email to The Standard.

“I have a request to ask if you would consider blurring the faces of our officers and agents,” ICE spokesperson Richard Beam wrote Wednesday. “Out of a concern for the safety of our personnel I wanted to simply ask.”

Beam was referring to photos and videos The Standard published Tuesday, showing ICE agents loading a handcuffed immigrant into a van along Montgomery Street in the heart of the Financial District. Experts have called the operation at the courthouse a significant escalation of federal immigration enforcement.

“While we always weigh legitimate concerns around privacy and safety, we believe that censoring images from this news event would set a harmful precedent for the media’s right to report and the public’s right to know,” managing editor Jeff Bercovici said.

ICE later defended the request, writing that the agency “takes the safety and security of its personnel as a priority.”"

https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/29/ice-arrests-blur-photos-agents-san-francisco-court/

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