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The Trump administration seemed ready on Wednesday to send scores of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a major border security initiative, triggering criticism from state officials.

Information of the Operation

Specifics of the deployment were still emerging, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ federal agents, based on information. The personnel are scheduled to begin utilizing the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, across the bay from San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would participate.

Official Reaction

The deployment follows an extended period of statements by the administration to focus on the progressive municipality. California’s governor Gavin Newsom criticized the move, describing it as “taken directly from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He deploys masked men, he sends out customs officers, he dispatches ICE, he instills anxiety and fear in the population so that he can claim credit for solving that by dispatching the military forces,” Newsom said. “This is exactly like the firestarter fighting the fire.”

Local Readiness

San Francisco is the newest metropolitan center singled out by the federal effort of widespread apprehensions. The deployment is anticipated to provoke a showdown between the White House and municipal authorities who have pledged to block militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for months for Trump to carry out frequent statements to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday public announcement, San Francisco’s municipal chief emphasized that the city was ready.

“Over recent weeks, we have been anticipating the possibility of a potential federal deployment in our city,” stated the official, explaining that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “strengthen the city’s support for our immigrant communities, and guarantee our offices are coordinated before any federal deployment.”

Judicial Context

In spite of legal challenges to operations in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, Portland and Los Angeles, Trump has claimed “unquestioned power” to deploy the military forces in cities, pointing to the Insurrection Act which allows presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on American territory.

Community Reaction

The governor, who was formerly as San Francisco’s city leader – had vowed to step in “right away” to a mission in the city. “The notion that the White House can deploy troops into our cities with no valid reason based on facts, no oversight, no accountability, disregard for regional control – it represents an infringement on the judicial framework,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including advocacy organizations formed in the first Trump administration, have organized to quickly mobilize a mass rally in the city, as well as vigils at community centers.

Community Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a mostly Latin American community, elected official informed journalists last week she and her voters had been preparing for this moment. “The time that employees avoid workplaces, when minority individuals can’t freely walk outside without the concern of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and detaining them, the time when students avoid classrooms, become too afraid to go to the supermarket or medical provider,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is essentially a shutdown the scale of which we have not experienced since the pandemic.”

Military Situation

Approximately 300 out of several thousand California national guard troops continue under national command under an command from Trump. Approximately two hundred of them had been transferred to the Pacific Northwest, where they were staying in standby during a judicial dispute over their mission.

This week, Newsom said he had called the California national guard troops under his control to operate distribution centers amid the government shutdown.