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The White House seemed ready on Wednesday to send numerous of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a large-scale border security initiative, sparking condemnation from local politicians.

Information of the Mission

Information of the operation were still emerging, but it will reportedly include over a hundred law enforcement personnel, based on information. The agents are reportedly set to begin occupying the Coast Guard facility in the East Bay, across the bay from San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would participate.

Official Reaction

The operation comes after months of statements by the administration to focus on the liberal city. California’s governor Gavin Newsom condemned the action, labeling it “straight from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He sends out covered agents, he dispatches Border Patrol, he deploys immigration officials, he generates worry and terror in the community so that he can lay claim for addressing that by sending in the national guard,” Newsom said. “This is exactly like the incendiary extinguishing the fire.”

City Preparation

San Francisco is the latest large urban area targeted by the administration's initiative of mass immigration arrests. The deployment is expected to trigger a standoff between the White House and municipal authorities who have committed to stop armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for weeks for Trump to carry out repeated threats to deploy forces to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s city leader stated again that the city was prepared.

“Over recent weeks, we have been anticipating the possibility of a potential federal deployment in our city,” said the mayor, adding that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s support for our newcomer populations, and guarantee our agencies are organized prior to any government operation.”

Constitutional Framework

Despite court battles to operations in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, Oregon and Southern California, Trump has claimed “unquestioned power” to dispatch the national guard in cities, pointing to the presidential authority which permits presidents limited power to deploy troops on American territory.

Community Reaction

The governor, who once held office as San Francisco’s mayor – had committed to intervene “right away” to a deployment in the city. “The notion that the federal government can dispatch personnel into our cities with no justification grounded in reality, no oversight, no answerability, disregard for local authority – it constitutes an attack on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including civil rights groups created during the previous presidential term, have prepped to swiftly gather a public demonstration in the city, as well as vigils at local libraries.

Local Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a largely Hispanic neighborhood, elected official informed journalists last week she and her residents had been preparing for this moment. “The point that employees avoid workplaces, when anyone Black or brown can’t freely walk outside without the concern of Trump’s federal agents targeting based on race and arresting them, the point when families keep children home, become too afraid to go to the supermarket or medical provider,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is essentially a halt the likes of which we haven’t seen since the pandemic.”

State Troops Status

About three hundred out of 4,000 state national guard troops remain federalized under an directive from Trump. Approximately several hundred of them had been transferred to the neighboring state, where they were staying in standby in the midst of a court case over their assignment.

This period, Newsom said he had requested the California national guard troops under his control to manage distribution centers throughout the government shutdown.