SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday that it is providing a base of operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the San Francisco area. This move is part of a broader federal effort to track down immigrants living in the country illegally and to enhance border and maritime security.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, which cited an anonymous source familiar with the operation, more than 100 CBP and other federal agents will begin arriving Thursday at the base located in Alameda. The deployment has drawn immediate condemnation from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both Democrats criticized the surge, claiming it aims to provoke violent protests.
CBP did not respond immediately to requests for comment from The Associated Press. However, the Coast Guard issued a statement explaining that, “through a whole of government approach, we are leveraging our unique authorities and capabilities to detect, deter, and interdict illegal aliens, narco-terrorists, and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border.”
Shortly after the deployment was reported, Mayor Lurie livestreamed a nine-minute statement from City Hall, flanked by other elected officials. He urged the public to be cautious about federal officials acting according to “a playbook” that could justify harsh crackdowns.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated his plans to deploy National Guard troops to San Francisco to address crime, though no timeline has been given. “In cities across the country, masked immigration officials are deployed to use aggressive enforcement tactics that instill fear so people don’t feel safe going about their daily lives,” Lurie said. “These tactics are designed to incite backlash, chaos and violence, which are then used as an excuse to deploy military personnel.”
Following his usual practice, Lurie did not mention the president by name. Trump has already deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, citing the need to combat what he describes as rampant crime.
Los Angeles was the first city where Trump deployed the Guard, arguing it was necessary to protect federal buildings and agents amid protests against widespread immigration arrests. He has also expressed intentions to send Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, though lawsuits by Democratic officials in both cities have so far prevented the troops from patrolling streets.
Trump recently reiterated his intentions regarding San Francisco during a Fox News interview, stating the city “was truly one of the great cities of the world” before it went “wrong” and “woke.” His claims of out-of-control crime in the city of approximately 830,000 residents have confused local and state leaders, who point to statistics showing that many crime rates are at record lows.
Newsom’s administration has vowed to strongly oppose any National Guard deployment, as it did when Trump first ordered Guard troops into Los Angeles against the governor’s wishes. California Attorney General Rob Bonta pledged to “be in court within hours, if not minutes,” should there be a federal deployment, and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu has offered similar assurances.
At a news conference Wednesday, Newsom held up what he described as a lawsuit that the state would file if Trump were to dispatch troops to San Francisco. “We’re going to be fierce in terms of our response,” said Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco. “This is the lawsuit that I will file within a nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities.”
The Coast Guard base in Alameda hosting the CBP agents is situated between Oakland and San Francisco—both designated sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with the federal government in civil immigration enforcement operations.
A statement from the Department of Homeland Security said its enforcement efforts are “targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists.”
Mayor Lurie urged the public to protest peacefully. He revealed that he had just signed an executive directive to coordinate San Francisco’s response to a potential federal deployment and to provide additional support for immigrants.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee issued a statement saying, “Real public safety comes from Oakland-based solutions, not federal military occupation.”
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Associated Press writer Sophie Austin contributed from Sacramento, California.
https://wgntv.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-federal-agents-sent-to-san-francisco-area-and-mayor-says-its-meant-to-incite-chaos-and-violence/