S.F. drag performer detained by ICE after asylum hearing

A San Francisco drag performer was detained by immigration enforcement officers after his asylum hearing in immigration court Thursday morning, one of the latest among at least 20 people in San Francisco to be subject to a new Trump administration practice of courthouse arrests. 

The man, an immigrant from Central America who performs under the drag name Hilary Rivers, is gay and has a pending asylum application based on “traumatic and severe” persecution he experienced in his home country that led him to flee to the U.S., according to Milli Atkinson, legal director at the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative, who heads up the city’s Rapid Response Network that responds to immigration enforcement actions.