🔗 Share this article

The federal government appeared poised on Wednesday to send scores of government officers to the northern California for a major immigration enforcement operation, sparking criticism from local politicians.

Details of the Deployment

Specifics of the operation were gradually becoming clear, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ government officers, as reported. The personnel are expected to begin occupying the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, across the bay from San Francisco. It was still uncertain whether national guard troops would participate.

Political Response

The mission comes after weeks of statements by Donald Trump to focus on the Democratic-run city. Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the move, describing it as “taken directly from the autocrat's manual”.

“He sends out masked men, he dispatches border agents, he dispatches immigration officials, he instills worry and terror in the neighborhood so that he can take credit for solving that by deploying the state troops,” he declared. “This is exactly like the firestarter putting out the inferno.”

Municipal Planning

San Francisco is the most recent large urban area singled out by Donald Trump’s campaign of large-scale detentions. The deployment is likely to cause a standoff between the White House and municipal authorities who have committed to block armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for an extended period for Trump to fulfill frequent statements to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s city leader reiterated that the city was ready.

“During this period, we have been preparing for the possibility of a potential federal deployment in our city,” declared the leader, explaining that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s assistance to our newcomer populations, and ensure our departments are prepared prior to any federal deployment.”

Judicial Framework

Despite judicial disputes to operations in a number of cities, including Chicago, the Pacific Northwest and LA, Trump has asserted “unquestioned power” to dispatch the state troops in cities, referencing the Insurrection Act which enables presidents specific authority to send forces on US soil.

Community Response

Newsom – who was formerly as San Francisco’s chief executive – had pledged to step in “without delay” to a operation in the city. “The notion that the White House can dispatch personnel into our cities with no justification based on facts, no oversight, no answerability, no consideration of local authority – it’s a direct assault on the judicial framework,” he said on Wednesday.

Local organizations, including social justice nonprofits formed in the initial federal leadership, have prepped to swiftly gather a public demonstration in the city, as well as peaceful assemblies at community centers.

Neighborhood Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a mostly Latin American neighborhood, elected official stated to media last week she and her residents had been preparing for this time. “The point that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown are afraid to go outdoors without the concern of Trump’s federal agents targeting based on race and arresting them, the point when families keep children home, grow too frightened to go to the food market or doctor,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is essentially a halt the likes of which we haven’t seen since the health crisis.”

State Troops Status

About several hundred out of 4,000 state military personnel continue under national command under an order from Trump. About two hundred of them had been sent to Oregon, where they were waiting in limbo amid a legal battle over their mission.

This period, Newsom said he had requested the local soldiers under his command to staff charity kitchens during the government shutdown.