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The Trump administration appeared poised on Wednesday to deploy scores of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a large-scale crackdown on immigration, sparking condemnation from state officials.

Information of the Operation

Details of the mission were gradually becoming clear, but it will reportedly include over a hundred federal agents, according to reports. The officers are expected to begin using the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, across the bay from San Francisco. It was still uncertain whether national guard troops would also be involved.

Official Reaction

The deployment follows months of threats by the administration to take action against the liberal city. Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the action, calling it “right out of the authoritarian playbook”.

“He deploys covered agents, he deploys Border Patrol, he dispatches federal agents, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can take credit for addressing that by deploying the national guard,” the governor stated. “This is no different than the firestarter putting out the blaze.”

Local Readiness

San Francisco is the most recent large urban area targeted by the administration's initiative of large-scale detentions. The deployment is anticipated to provoke a confrontation between the White House and municipal authorities who have committed to prevent militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been preparing for months for Trump to fulfill frequent statements to deploy forces to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s mayor reiterated that the city was prepared.

“For months, we have been expecting the chance of some kind of federal deployment in our city,” declared the leader, explaining that he had implemented additional measures on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s assistance to our immigrant communities, and guarantee our departments are organized ahead of any national intervention.”

Legal Background

Regardless of judicial disputes to deployments in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, the Pacific Northwest and Southern California, Trump has claimed “complete control” to dispatch the state troops in cities, referencing the Insurrection Act which permits presidents certain rights to send forces on American territory.

Local Response

Newsom, who once held office as San Francisco’s chief executive – had committed to take action “immediately” to a deployment in the city. “The idea that the federal government can send forces into our cities with no valid reason supported by evidence, no monitoring, no responsibility, no consideration of local authority – it’s a direct assault on the judicial framework,” he said on Wednesday.

Local organizations, including advocacy organizations formed in the initial federal leadership, have organized to swiftly gather a large protest in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at public spaces.

Local Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, local representative stated to media last week she and her residents had been preparing for this time. “The point that workers cease employment, when anyone Black or brown are afraid to go outdoors without the apprehension of government officers discriminating against and apprehending them, the time when students avoid classrooms, become too afraid to go to the grocery store or doctor,” she said. “Our ongoing preparations in the Mission is essentially a closure the likes of which we have not witnessed since Covid.”

Military Condition

Approximately several hundred out of 4,000 regional military personnel stay under federal control under an order from Trump. About two hundred of them had been transferred to the Pacific Northwest, where they were waiting in limbo amid a legal battle over their deployment.

This week, Newsom said he had called the local soldiers under his command to staff charity kitchens throughout the government shutdown.