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The federal government seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy scores of government officers to the northern California for a large-scale border security initiative, prompting outrage from California leaders.

Information of the Mission

Specifics of the mission were still emerging, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ law enforcement personnel, according to reports. The personnel are reportedly set to begin occupying the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, opposite San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether state soldiers would also be involved.

Official Backlash

The operation comes after an extended period of threats by the president to focus on the progressive municipality. Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the action, labeling it “right out of the autocrat's manual”.

“He dispatches covered agents, he sends out Border Patrol, he dispatches immigration officials, he instills concern and apprehension in the community so that he can take credit for addressing that by deploying the national guard,” Newsom said. “This is exactly like the firestarter extinguishing the inferno.”

City Preparation

San Francisco is the newest large urban area focused on by Donald Trump’s campaign of mass immigration arrests. The deployment is expected to trigger a showdown between the White House and city officials who have committed to stop paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been readying for months for Trump to make good on repeated threats to dispatch personnel to the city. At a Wednesday public announcement, San Francisco’s municipal chief emphasized that the city was prepared.

“For months, we have been anticipating the likelihood of a potential federal deployment in our city,” stated the official, noting that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s assistance to our immigrant communities, and ensure our agencies are prepared prior to any federal deployment.”

Legal Framework

In spite of judicial disputes to operations in a multiple urban areas, including Illinois, the Pacific Northwest and LA, Trump has declared “unquestioned power” to send the state troops in cities, referencing the presidential authority which allows presidents specific authority to send forces on domestic land.

Local Reaction

The governor, who was formerly as San Francisco’s city leader – had pledged to intervene “without delay” to a deployment in the city. “The idea that the White House can send forces into our cities with no justification grounded in reality, no oversight, no accountability, no respect for state sovereignty – it represents an infringement on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Local organizations, including social justice nonprofits formed in the initial federal leadership, have prepared to swiftly gather a public demonstration in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at community centers.

Community Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a largely Hispanic neighborhood, city supervisor stated to media last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this time. “The moment that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown can’t freely walk outside without the fear of government officers racially profiling and arresting them, the time when families keep children home, grow too frightened to go to the supermarket or medical provider,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is basically a halt the extent of which we have not experienced since Covid.”

National Guard Condition

About several hundred out of 4,000 state military personnel remain federalized under an order from Trump. Approximately 200 of them had been transferred to the Pacific Northwest, where they were staying in standby in the midst of a judicial dispute over their deployment.

This period, Newsom said he had called the local soldiers under his command to operate food banks throughout the administrative stoppage.