San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie condemned it Notice of deployment Saying about federal immigration officials in your city Operation Its purpose is to incite “anarchy and violence” rather than reduce crime.
“In cities across the country, masked immigration officers are deployed to use aggressive enforcement tactics that instill fear, so that people don’t feel safe going about their daily lives,” Lurie said in a 9-minute video statement.
“These tactics are designed to provoke reaction, chaos and violence, which are then used as a pretext to deploy military personnel,” he said.
The statement came immediately after the deployment was first reported,
Lurie spoke from San Francisco City Hall along with other elected officials and cautioned against giving federal authorities an excuse to crack down on the city. He said officers were working from a “playbook.”
President Trump has thought about sending the military to San Francisco in an effort to curb crime, but the administration has not specified when he would do so.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported More than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents were expected to arrive Thursday at the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, California, which is between Oakland and San Francisco. The Chronicle cited an unnamed source with knowledge of the operation.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill” on Wednesday that an “enhanced presence” can be expected soon in San Francisco “and in any of these sanctuary cities.”
“We also have [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Officials on the ground in San Francisco,” he said, “this is not a change in stance.”
Asked about ICE operations in the Bay Area city, she said she “can’t get too far ahead of ICE operations [Trump],
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) resolved to push back strongly On any federal military deployment. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, also vowed to appear in court “within minutes, if not hours” if troops reach the sanctuary city.
McLaughlin told NewsNation that Newsom “has to be very careful electorally.”
“In Los Angeles and San Francisco, a lot of citizens are not happy with their governance, whether it’s wildfires or the crime we’re seeing outside of San Francisco,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed.
