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The White House seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy dozens of government officers to the northern California for a large-scale crackdown on immigration, triggering criticism from state officials.

Information of the Operation

Information of the operation were gradually becoming clear, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ law enforcement personnel, according to reports. The personnel are reportedly set to begin using the Coast Guard facility in Alameda, facing San Francisco. It was still uncertain whether military personnel would join the operation.

Government Reaction

The operation is the result of an extended period of threats by the administration to target the liberal city. The state's leader Gavin Newsom denounced the move, labeling it “right out of the authoritarian playbook”.

“He deploys unidentified officers, he deploys Border Patrol, he dispatches immigration officials, he instills concern and apprehension in the neighborhood so that he can claim credit for handling that by deploying the national guard,” the governor stated. “This is exactly like the firestarter extinguishing the inferno.”

Local Preparation

San Francisco is the newest major city focused on by Donald Trump’s campaign of mass immigration arrests. The mission is likely to cause a confrontation between the federal government and municipal authorities who have pledged to block armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been readying for an extended period for Trump to fulfill ongoing warnings to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s mayor stated again that the city was ready.

“For months, we have been preparing for the chance of some kind of national intervention in our city,” said the mayor, noting that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s assistance to our foreign-born residents, and guarantee our agencies are prepared before any federal deployment.”

Constitutional Context

In spite of court battles to operations in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, Portland and Southern California, Trump has claimed “complete control” to send the state troops in cities, referencing the federal statute which permits presidents specific authority to deploy troops on American territory.

Community Response

Newsom, who previously served as San Francisco’s city leader – had vowed to intervene “right away” to a deployment in the city. “The idea that the White House can send forces into our cities with no justification supported by evidence, no supervision, no answerability, disregard for state sovereignty – it represents an infringement on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including advocacy organizations established during the previous presidential term, have prepared to swiftly gather a mass rally in the city, as well as peaceful assemblies at public spaces.

Local Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a largely Hispanic community, city supervisor told reporters last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this time. “The time that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown can’t freely walk outside without the concern of national personnel discriminating against and detaining them, the moment when parents stop sending kids to school, become too afraid to go to the food market or physician,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is essentially a closure the scale of which we have not experienced since Covid.”

National Guard Situation

Approximately three hundred out of four thousand regional military personnel continue under national command under an order from Trump. Approximately several hundred of them had been dispatched to Oregon, where they were waiting in limbo in the midst of a court case over their deployment.

This time, Newsom said he had requested the California national guard troops under his control to staff distribution centers amid the government shutdown.