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The White House seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy scores of law enforcement personnel to the San Francisco Bay Area for a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, sparking criticism from local politicians.

Details of the Operation

Specifics of the operation were still emerging, but it will reportedly include more than 100 government officers, according to reports. The personnel are scheduled to begin using the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, across the bay from San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether military personnel would also be involved.

Political Backlash

The operation follows weeks of statements by the administration to target the liberal city. Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the move, labeling it “straight from the autocrat's manual”.

“He deploys covered agents, he deploys Border Patrol, he sends out federal agents, he generates anxiety and fear in the population so that he can claim credit for addressing that by sending in the national guard,” he declared. “This is exactly like the incendiary fighting the blaze.”

Municipal Readiness

San Francisco is the newest major city singled out by the administration's initiative of widespread apprehensions. The mission is anticipated to provoke a standoff between the federal government and municipal authorities who have pledged to stop armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been readying for an extended period for Trump to make good on frequent statements to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday public announcement, San Francisco’s municipal chief reiterated that the city was equipped.

“Over recent weeks, we have been preparing for the likelihood of an impending government operation in our city,” stated the official, explaining that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s support for our foreign-born residents, and guarantee our agencies are organized prior to any national intervention.”

Judicial Context

In spite of judicial disputes to deployments in a multiple urban areas, including Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles, Trump has claimed “complete control” to deploy the state troops in cities, citing the federal statute which permits presidents certain rights to dispatch personnel on domestic land.

Community Response

Newsom – who once held office as San Francisco’s city leader – had committed to take action “immediately” to a deployment in the city. “The concept that the national administration can send forces into our cities with no valid reason based on facts, no monitoring, no answerability, no consideration of local authority – it represents an infringement on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including civil rights groups formed in the first Trump administration, have prepared to rapidly assemble a public demonstration in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at public spaces.

Community Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a mostly Latin American neighborhood, city supervisor stated to media last week she and her residents had been bracing for this time. “The moment that people stop going to work, when people of color are afraid to go outdoors without the concern of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and detaining them, the moment when families keep children home, are too scared to go to the food market or physician,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is essentially a shutdown the likes of which we have not witnessed since the pandemic.”

State Troops Condition

Roughly 300 out of 4,000 California national guard troops stay under federal control under an command from Trump. Roughly two hundred of them had been dispatched to the Pacific Northwest, where they were waiting in limbo during a legal battle over their deployment.

This period, Newsom said he had called the local soldiers under his authority to operate distribution centers amid the administrative stoppage.