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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN) ― The driving rain wasn't enough to stop a demonstration by dozens of protesters against U.S. immigration policy in San Francisco on Monday.

Immigrant rights activists and members of the faith community stood outside the immigration office at 630 Sansome Street, demanding an end to raids that have resulted in some 800 arrests in Northern California alone.

"(The immigrant) community is afraid," said protestor Beth Contenself. "We want to call on our tradition of hospitality, our tradition of immigration, and our tradition of open heart to everyone."

The rally coincided with a San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution that condemns enforcement efforts in San Francisco, a sanctuary city, and lobbies federal lawmakers to change immigration standards.

The Immigrant and Custom Enforcement Agency, however, does not consider the recent arrests as indiscriminate sweeps for illegals.

"We're focusing on those individuals that have been through immigration proceedings, who have been ordered deported by an independent immigration judge, and who have failed to comply with those orders," said ICE spokeswomen Virginia Kice.

In the process of these operations, she said ICE runs across other illegal immigrants and makes arrests accordingly.

Kice added that ICE has been conducting enforcement operations since 2003 when ICE was formed and began the fugitive operations initiative.

"It's all part of our ongoing effort to restore integrity to our nation's immigration system," said Kice, who also noted that ICE enforcement officers concentrate on detaining illegal immigrants who have criminal records.

Monday's demonstration was the first of a week long series of planned protests in response to what activists say is a recent spike in Bay Area raids on illegal immigrants.

Evelyn Sanchez, advocacy coordinator for the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, said ICE isn't admitting to recent raids and shakedowns in low-income communities in San Francisco, Concord and other Bay Area cites.

ICE enforcement teams have made a wave of arrests in the last month, arbitrarily engaging people on the street and checking their identification, according to Sanchez.

"Number one, we want to reiterate that the community is very opposed to these actions," Sanchez said. "It's intimidating and traumatizing to community members. This has the greatest effect on children. Their parents are being taken away when they are legal U.S. citizens themselves. It's tearing families apart."

The rallies were to continue throughout the week in front of the immigration building in San Francisco. Protestors hope to garner the attention of federal lawmakers.

A Board of Supervisors resolution sponsored by Supervisors Chris Daly, Tom Ammiano and Gerardo Sandoval, charges immigration officials with entering homes in their districts without warrants. It also accuses officials of harassing and intimidating residents.

The full board was expected to vote on the resolution Tuesday. In the meantime, Kice said federal officials will continue their enforcement initiatives.

Between October and the end of January, about 830 people have been detained in Northern California on immigration charges. Of those arrested, 500 received a court-ordered deportation order and 157 had criminal records, including sex offenses and gang charges, according to Kice.

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