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The federal government seemed ready on Wednesday to send numerous of federal agents to the northern California for a large-scale border security initiative, sparking condemnation from California leaders.

Details of the Operation

Details of the operation were still emerging, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ federal agents, as reported. The personnel are reportedly set to begin occupying the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, opposite San Francisco. It remained unclear whether military personnel would join the operation.

Government Response

The mission comes after an extended period of statements by the president to take action against the Democratic-run city. The state's leader Gavin Newsom denounced the action, calling it “straight from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He sends out unidentified officers, he sends out Border Patrol, he dispatches federal agents, he creates anxiety and fear in the neighborhood so that he can take credit for solving that by sending in the military forces,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the firestarter extinguishing the blaze.”

Local Preparation

San Francisco is the newest major city targeted by Donald Trump’s campaign of widespread apprehensions. The deployment is likely to cause a showdown between the federal government and local leaders who have pledged to stop armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been preparing for months for Trump to carry out ongoing warnings to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday public announcement, San Francisco’s municipal chief stated again that the city was equipped.

“For months, we have been preparing for the likelihood of a potential federal deployment in our city,” declared the leader, adding that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “strengthen the city’s assistance to our newcomer populations, and make certain our offices are coordinated prior to any national intervention.”

Constitutional Background

In spite of court battles to deployments in a number of cities, including Chicago, the Pacific Northwest and Southern California, Trump has declared “complete control” to deploy the military forces in cities, pointing to the presidential authority which enables presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on domestic land.

Community Preparation

Newsom – who once held office as San Francisco’s chief executive – had pledged to take action “without delay” to a deployment in the city. “The concept that the federal government can deploy troops into our cities with no valid reason supported by evidence, no oversight, no accountability, disregard for regional control – it constitutes an attack on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including civil rights groups formed in the initial federal leadership, have prepped to rapidly assemble a public demonstration in the city, as well as vigils at community centers.

Community Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, elected official stated to media last week she and her residents had been bracing for this time. “The time that workers cease employment, when people of color are afraid to go outdoors without the concern of national personnel targeting based on race and detaining them, the point when students avoid classrooms, are too scared to go to the food market or physician,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is basically a shutdown the extent of which we have not witnessed since the pandemic.”

State Troops Status

About 300 out of several thousand state national guard troops remain federalized under an command from Trump. Roughly two hundred of them had been dispatched to the Pacific Northwest, where they were staying in standby during a legal battle over their mission.

This week, Newsom said he had called the California national guard troops under his authority to staff food banks throughout the government shutdown.