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The federal government was preparing on Wednesday to deploy scores of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a major immigration enforcement operation, prompting condemnation from local politicians.

Information of the Operation

Specifics of the mission were gradually becoming clear, but it will allegedly feature approximately 100+ government officers, based on information. The agents are expected to begin using the military installation in the East Bay, facing San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether national guard troops would join the operation.

Government Backlash

The operation follows months of threats by Donald Trump to take action against the Democratic-run city. California’s governor Gavin Newsom criticized the action, labeling it “straight from the autocrat's manual”.

“He sends out masked men, he deploys Border Patrol, he dispatches ICE, he instills anxiety and fear in the population so that he can lay claim for addressing that by dispatching the state troops,” he declared. “This mirrors the incendiary putting out the blaze.”

City Planning

San Francisco is the latest large urban area targeted by Donald Trump’s campaign of large-scale detentions. The deployment is expected to trigger a showdown between the federal government and local leaders who have vowed to prevent paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for months for Trump to fulfill repeated threats to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s city leader emphasized that the city was ready.

“Over recent weeks, we have been expecting the likelihood of some kind of national intervention in our city,” declared the leader, noting that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s assistance to our immigrant communities, and ensure our departments are coordinated prior to any government operation.”

Judicial Framework

Despite legal challenges to operations in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, the Pacific Northwest and LA, Trump has asserted “absolute authority” to send the national guard in cities, referencing the federal statute which permits presidents specific authority to deploy troops on domestic land.

Community Response

The governor, who was formerly as San Francisco’s mayor – had committed to take action “without delay” to a operation in the city. “The concept that the federal government can dispatch personnel into our cities with no legitimate cause supported by evidence, no supervision, no answerability, disregard for state sovereignty – it’s a direct assault on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including civil rights groups created during the first Trump administration, have prepped to quickly mobilize a large protest in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at community centers.

Neighborhood Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, city supervisor informed journalists last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this situation. “The moment that people stop going to work, when people of color are afraid to go outdoors without the concern of national personnel targeting based on race and detaining them, the time when students avoid classrooms, become too afraid to go to the food market or medical provider,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is basically a halt the extent of which we have not experienced since Covid.”

National Guard Situation

Roughly several hundred out of four thousand regional state soldiers remain federalized under an command from Trump. About 200 of them had been dispatched to the Pacific Northwest, where they were staying in standby in the midst of a court case over their deployment.

This time, Newsom said he had summoned the local soldiers under his command to manage charity kitchens throughout the administrative stoppage.