Immigration and community activists gathered for a nonviolent demonstration Thursday evening at the Northern California ICE Operations Center in San Francisco.
Tensions briefly grew high when demonstrators with the Block ICE coalition blocked an exit driveway at the building, but the protest ended peacefully when the vehicle used another exit.
The Block ICE Coalition is composed of sanctuary churches and religious institutions, policing oversight and reform groups and social justice organizations responding to ICE threats to retaliate against Bay Area sanctuary cities.
The protesters say they are fed up with ICE raids, detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants, and their plan Thursday was to interfere.
"The actions that are taken here, especially the raids, are unacceptable. They are un-American," one demonstrator said. "We believe people should be in the streets and stop the raids."
As demonstrations ramped up, the immigration policy debate is still developing in Washington. Democrats want a solution for nearly 800,000 young people who are about to lose protection under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
NBC News has learned that President Donald Trump would back a plan that protects 1.8 million people -- the DACA recipients and those who are eligible but never registered. Their path to citizenship would take 10 to 12 years and would include requirements for work, education and "good moral character." Status could be revoked if immigrants commit crimes or raise national security concerns.
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As part of the same immigration policy, the president wants roughly $25 billion for a wall and border security as well as an end to the visa lottery system and a limit on family-based migration.
Protesters say no deal.
"I think it's a shame the Democrats would use the lives of so many people as a bargaining chip, that they would give any thought this idea of building a wall between people," one protester said.
