Trump cancels plans to send federal troops to San Francisco for immigration crackdown | San Francisco

Donald Trump has canceled plans to deploy federal troops to the San Francisco Bay Area, prompting widespread condemnation from California leaders and prompting protesters to spill into the streets.

The region was on edge Wednesday as reports emerged that the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agents to the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, across the San Francisco Bay, as part of a large-scale immigration enforcement plan.

But on Thursday, the president said he would not move forward with an “escalation” of federal forces in the region after speaking with Mayor Daniel Lurie and Silicon Valley leaders, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, who recently apologized for saying Trump should send in national guard troops.

Lurie said he spoke with the president Wednesday night and Trump told him he would cancel the deployment.

“In that conversation, the President told me clearly that he was canceling the plan for a federal deployment to San Francisco. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that aspect in our conversation this morning,” Lurie said in a statement.

Trump confirmed this conversation on the Truth Social platform, saying: “I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he very kindly asked me to give him a chance to see if he could turn the situation around.”

The operation was expected to begin early Thursday.

The sudden reversal came as protesters mobilized in anticipation of increased troop numbers. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Alameda on a cloudy Thursday morning, chanting “No ICE or Troops in the Bay!” They carried banners with slogans such as. . Police used flash grenades to push a handful of demonstrators away from the entrance as CBP vehicles passed.

Later Thursday morning, protesters were marching in a slow circle through the gates of the Coast Guard base. Many held signs reading “Protect our neighbors, protegemos nuestros vecinos.” There was at least one person dressed as Batman and Marvin Gaye blaring from the speakers.

Josh Aguirre, 39, had come to attend his first protest. “What’s going on right now is scary, and we have to stand in solidarity,” said Aguirre, who came with her dog from East Oakland, a predominantly Latino and immigrant community.

She learned from her four-year-old daughter’s school administrators that federal agents would be sent to the Bay Area. “And my first thought was that the families I know who bring their kids to school are going to be hit the hardest,” he said. “It’s important to show up for your community.”

Educator Raj, who asked to be mentioned only by his first name, came with his 10-year-old daughter. “We’re involved in the Gulf… and our kids know what’s going on,” he said. “When federal troops come here, they’re not going to see what they think they’re going to see, just violent agitators. They’re going to see entire communities showing up with their children, their families, their youth. They’re going to see that they’re not wanted here, they’re not needed here.”

Trump has signaled for weeks that San Francisco could be the next Democratic city to face pressure from the administration. In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, the president claimed he had the “unquestionable authority” to deploy the national guard and argued that San Francisco residents want the military in their city.

“We’re going to go to San Francisco. The difference is, I think they want us in San Francisco,” Trump said in an interview with Maria Bartiromo.

It was unclear whether the national guard would play a role in operations in the region. But state and local leaders responded quickly and forcefully to news of CBP operations on Wednesday and vowed to fight any possible military deployment.

California governor Gavin Newsom called Trump’s moves “straight out of the dictator’s handbook.”

“He’s sending masked men, he’s sending border patrol, he’s sending ICE, he’s creating anxiety and fear in the community so he can claim to solve this. [national] guard” Newsom he said in a video description. “This is no different than an arsonist putting out a fire.”

Lurie said earlier in the week that his city was ready.

“We have been anticipating the possibility of some type of federal mandate in our city for months,” Lurie said.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said “true public safety comes from Oakland-centered solutions, not from federal military occupation.”

State and local officials have vowed to challenge any deployment of military troops in court.

Newsom, who previously served as mayor of San Francisco, vowed to sue the administration “within nanoseconds” if it tried to send the military to the city. “We will act harshly in response,” the governor said.

California attorney general Rob Bonta has promised to “be in court within hours, if not minutes” if there is a federal mandate, and San Francisco city attorney David Chiu has made the same promise.

San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins says she is prepared to prosecute any federal agents who violate California law.

San Francisco became the last major US city to face Trump’s threats. The administration had previously sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago, and tried to send troops to Portland. All deployments faced legal challenges from local and state authorities.

Trump has argued in recent weeks that a federal operation in San Francisco is necessary to fight crime. “Every American deserves to live in a community where they don’t have to fear being mugged, killed, robbed, raped, assaulted or shot,” he said in an Oct. 16 speech.

Local leaders, including the city’s mayor and district attorney, said crime in the city was under control, noting that crime rates were falling and police recruitment was increasing. The city’s murder rate this year is expected to be at its lowest since 1954. San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Community groups were ready to support affected residents. Organizers moved to hold vigils at local libraries, as well as a mass rally in the city.

City Supervisor Jackie Fielder told reporters last week that she and her constituents in the Mission District were preparing for this moment.

“The moment people stop going to work, the moment anyone Black or brown can’t go out freely without fear of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and arresting them, the moment parents stop sending their kids to school, the moment they will be afraid to go to the grocery store or the doctor,” Fielder said. “What we are preparing for at the mission is essentially a shutdown that we haven’t seen since Covid.”