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The Trump administration appeared poised on Wednesday to send numerous of federal agents to the Bay Area region for a significant crackdown on immigration, prompting outrage from state officials.

Information of the Operation

Information of the deployment were continuing to unfold, but it will reportedly involve over a hundred government officers, according to reports. The officers are scheduled to begin utilizing the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, facing San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would also be involved.

Political Response

The operation is the result of months of warnings by the administration to take action against the Democratic-run city. The state's leader Gavin Newsom denounced the action, describing it as “straight from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He sends out covered agents, he dispatches Border Patrol, he deploys ICE, he generates anxiety and fear in the neighborhood so that he can lay claim for solving that by dispatching the national guard,” he declared. “This is no different than the firestarter putting out the fire.”

City Planning

San Francisco is the most recent large urban area focused on by the federal effort of large-scale detentions. The operation is likely to cause a confrontation between the federal government and city officials who have committed to prevent armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for months for Trump to make good on repeated threats to deploy forces to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s city leader emphasized that the city was prepared.

“During this period, we have been anticipating the likelihood of some kind of national intervention in our city,” stated the official, adding that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s support for our immigrant communities, and guarantee our departments are prepared prior to any federal deployment.”

Legal Context

Despite legal challenges to missions in a number of cities, including Chicago, Portland and LA, Trump has claimed “absolute authority” to send the military forces in cities, pointing to the presidential authority which permits presidents certain rights to send forces on US soil.

Public Preparation

Newsom, who was formerly as San Francisco’s chief executive – had committed to intervene “right away” to a deployment in the city. “The notion that the national administration can send forces into our cities with no legitimate cause grounded in reality, no supervision, no responsibility, no respect for local authority – it represents an infringement on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Local organizations, including social justice nonprofits created during the previous presidential term, have organized to quickly mobilize a mass rally in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at community centers.

Community Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission district, a predominantly Latino population, city supervisor informed journalists last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this time. “The moment that workers cease employment, when minority individuals are afraid to go outdoors without the fear of government officers racially profiling and arresting them, the point when families keep children home, become too afraid to go to the supermarket or physician,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is basically a halt the likes of which we haven’t seen since Covid.”

State Troops Status

Approximately 300 out of several thousand California state soldiers remain federalized under an command from Trump. Approximately 200 of them had been sent to the Pacific Northwest, where they were staying in standby in the midst of a legal battle over their mission.

This week, Newsom said he had summoned the local soldiers under his authority to staff distribution centers during the federal closure.