The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is sending federal agents to San Francisco following weeks of threats from the president to deploy the National Guard to the Bay Area.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement on X confirming and criticizing the agents’ upcoming arrival. He called deployment a “page right out of the dictator’s handbook” intended to create the conditions of unrest necessary to then send in the National Guard.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving that by sending in the [National] Guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
About 100 federal agents, including members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are en route to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alameda base, according to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that agents would be performing immigration enforcement in San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists — in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city had been preparing for the escalation of immigration enforcement for months and was ready to assist the immigrant community and protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
He said the possible deployment of the National Guard was unwelcome and touted recent gains the city had made in reducing violent crime to 70-year lows and the number of tent encampments to record lows.
“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work,” he said. “Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery.”
Newsom told reporters at a Wednesday event that the state would file a lawsuit within a “nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities, San Francisco.”
He urged Californians to remain peaceful in the face of the arrival of federal agents.
“President Trump and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” said Newsom on X.
Trump has suggested for weeks that San Francisco is next on his list for National Guard deployment, after the administration sent troops to Los Angeles and Chicago and is battling in court to send them to Portland, Ore.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”
Trump has suggested that the role of the National Guard in San Francisco would be to address crime rates. However, the National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
“I want to make sure that San Franciscans understand that the National Guard would not have any legal authority to make arrests or investigate crime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. She said the Guard is not legally equipped to “to curb the fentanyl crisis or retail theft or the issues that are most pressing here.”
Lurie acknowledged that the city has more work to do to combat fentanyl use but said that the National Guard “cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”
Last month, Trump said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to straighten them out.”
Trump said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our National Guard.”
In a Monday statement, the White House defended the deployment of troops in U.S. cities, pointing to drops in crime after troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
“The President’s actions in DC have been tremendously successful, with even Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighting the significant reduction in crime as a result of the operation,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson, said in the statement. “San Francisco Democrats should look at the tremendous results in DC and Memphis and listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Bowser and welcome the President in to clean up their city.”
The president has direct command of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as it is a federal territory. However, the president is generally not allowed to federalize troops to support local law enforcement without a governor’s consent.
In the case of Los Angeles and Chicago, the Guard was mobilized to defend federal property and personnel during immigration protests. In Memphis, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved the deployment of the Guard to assist law enforcement with a crackdown on crime. Memphis has the highest violent-crime rate of any city in America, according to FBI data.
Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, said Wednesday that the City by the Bay is experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 60 years.
“It’s one of the safest large cities in this country that’s experiencing an economic rebirth and growth,” Newsom said. “We will push back with clarity and conviction and we’ll continue to win in court.”
Times staff writers Salvador Hernandez and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
