Libby gets an earful
Over 1,000 people express their concern or support of mayor’s immigration enforcement warning
OAKLAND >> A Houston area man said he would laugh if she were killed by an illegal immigrant. A “dip” was the nicest description a Minnesotan could muster. Others called for “cuffing” the mayor ... or worse.
It’s been five days since Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Saturday first tipped off the community to upcoming immigration raids, and her office phones are still ringing off the hook. On the front lines at the reception desk as calls come in from around the country, Khalil Corbin broke out a notepad and began keeping score.
The rough, subjective tally, as of Friday afternoon? Love her decision: 153. Hate it: 1,037.
“I’m surprised it’s not more,” said Joe Tuman, a San Francisco State University professor of political and legal communications and 2014 mayoral candidate. “It’s an emotional issue for them thanks to (Donald) Trump. Very likely people that would go to the trouble to email or call are the very same people that would tweet about this, which is the daily diet for the nutcase we have in the White House right now.”
The 1,190 calls, emails and voicemails, a few dozen of which were reviewed by this news agency, signal how deeply Americans are divided on immigration. In a world in which anonymous comments flood social media, upset citizens will still sometimes pick up the phone. And while the angriest of them did not leave their name, others did and asked for a call back.
Like Debbie from Fresno and Fred from Illinois, who were polite in their criticism.
“I do not understand you protecting people who are not American citizens while you are abandoning the American citizens who put you in of-
“What a joke of a mayor… what a (expletive). Can you get any dumber? I guess she's getting her 15 minutes of fame.” “You're the one who should be deported. I can't wait 'til one of these great people that you are protecting ends up killing somebody and it's gonna be on your head. You are 100 percent responsible for it. I think you are disgusting and i don't think you should have that office." “I do not understand you protecting people who are not American citizens while you are abandoning the American citizens who put you in office. Why don't you help the homeless instead? Clean up our streets, our country looks like an impoverished country in many ways.” “I think that decision took a lot of courage and absolutely reflects the values of our community, and, you know, it was the right thing to do.”
fice,” Debbie said in a voicemail. “Why don’t you help the homeless instead? Clean up our streets, our country looks like an impoverished country in many ways.”
The first calls started before City Hall opened Monday, a day after Schaaf held a news conference to repeat that ICE planned to make arrests in the Bay Area. The volume of calls grew as word of Schaaf’s action spread via social media and was picked up by news outlets across the country. The phone was ringing off the hook after ICE announced Tuesday evening that it did in fact arrest 150 people and blamed the mayor’s announcement as the possible reason hundreds more eluded capture.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan said the mayor’s comments put agents and the public in danger, and likened Schaaf to a “gang lookout yelling police” when a patrol car enters a neighborhood.
When asked earlier this week about the criticism and the threats, the mayor was unapologetic, saying “that is the risk you run when you take elected office.”
While the threats are directed at Schaaf, her staff are the ones picking up the phone. From behind the reception desk, Corbin, who works as a special assistant to the mayor, has spent nearly all of his shifts this week politely hearing out people calling from numerous area codes, from Southern California to the south and beyond. The mild-mannered Hayward resident said he only hung up on one caller, a woman who began making racist remarks after realizing the man she was talking to is black.
“I’d be on one call, there’d be three or four more coming at the same time,” said Corbin. On his desk was a stack of papers with tally marks under positive and negative. His co-worker, Rose Dong, scrolled through a cache of more than one hundred voicemails they hadn’t even listened to yet.
“I just tell them, thanks for calling and have a great day,” Corbin said. “People who are calling are in favor of America but if they put the same energy to homelessness, education and prison system issues, we would actually see a better America.”
One call came from Bill, who left his number.
“I really think your mayor is out of control like the rest of California,” he said. “ICE is going after criminals, if you don’t want to protect the citizens of America maybe you guys all ought to gather up and go to Mexico and live. You are a bunch of (expletive) crap, that’s what you are... and yes, I live in Texas where you don’t have your kind of (expletive) problems.”
A man from Minnesota broke out in laughter after calling the mayor an “idiot.” “What a joke of a mayor... what a (expletive). Can you get any dumber? I guess she’s getting her 15 minutes of fame.”
An Ohio woman said she would never vote for Schaaf. Like many other callers, the unidentified woman blasted Schaaf for protecting undocumented immigrants over federal agents and the city of Oakland’s status as a sanctuary city. Another man who called from a Minnesota area code said, “I can’t wait till one of these great people you are protecting ends up killing somebody and it’s going to be on your head.”
On Wednesday, Corbin said he stopped answering calls. By Thursday, his colleague Dong helped catch up on the voicemails and noticed a shift: more calls defending Schaaf were pouring in.
“I think that decision took a lot of courage and absolutely reflects the values of our community, and, you know, it was the right thing to do,” one local man said in his voicemail. “I understand you’ve received a lot of criticism for it, I just want you to know you are absolutely representing the values of our Oakland community by working to protect all of our community members: documented, undocumented or otherwise.”
Schaaf spokesman Justin Berton said a handful of complimentary voicemails came from Spanish speakers.
“The mayor’s decision just meant a lot to people from... different cultures and backgrounds. Now that we are hearing their support, that means a lot to the staff,” Berton said.
A 510-area-code caller offered Schaaf congratulations.
“I am totally in favor of what she did,” the Oakland woman said, “and I don’t appreciate people calling from out of the area to tell her how to run our city.”