In a significant reversal, former President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of plans to deploy over 100 federal agents, including personnel from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to a U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, California. This deployment was one piece of a wider immigration enforcement program targeted at stopping crime in the Bay Area. The decision came after more than a year of hometown outcry. Key champions in San Francisco, including Mayor Daniel Lurie and other business elites, helped to create the environment for it.
The Bay Area was abuzz with anger and apprehension following reports of the planned deployment. Local leaders and activists had an emotional response to the news. Let’s make no mistake, we were prepared for them to be there in our city,” asserted Mayor Lurie. What really took him aback was hearing about the upcoming deployment from his daughter’s school administrators. It was this unlikely fountain of intelligence that helped us gauge just how much anxiety was flooding the community.
Just yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had doubled down on the government’s determination to continue with the deployment. California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta quickly responded, vowing to “be in court within hours, if not minutes” should federal agents arrive in San Francisco. Lurie similarly drove this point home, telling him that he would do whatever it took to defend the people of his city from harm.
When justifying the operation, Trump claimed that no American should have to live in fear of violent crime. He spoke about making safety paramount to every person he serves. He stated, “Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted or shot.” All of this rhetoric was designed to paint the federal operation as the answer to urgent public safety worries.
Come Wednesday evening, the pair were having a thoughtful discussion. During their conversation, Lurie said, “Give me a shot to really address this at a local level. Trump confirmed this dialogue on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating, “I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around.”
Prominent figures such as Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, participated in discussions surrounding the deployment. Beyond the specifics of their involvement, their participation underscores the importance of business leaders to local governance and public policy.
California Governor Gavin Newsom railed against Trump’s plan for the upcoming deployment. He described it as “right out of the dictator’s handbook.” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) voiced strong concerns over the employment of federal agents to create terror in our communities. Newsom remarked, “He sends out masked men, he sends out border patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving for that by sending in the [national] guard.” He compared Trump’s actions to “the arsonist putting out the fire.”
The local community had been hoping for some sort of federal intervention for months. Mayor Lurie stated, “For months, we have been anticipating the possibility of some kind of federal deployment in our city.” Community advocates like Jackie Fielder fervently amplified this sentiment. She called for investments in local approaches to public safety solutions rather than continuing a cycle of federal military presence. Fielder stated, “We don’t need to get ready because we’ve been ready,” highlighting local readiness to address safety concerns without external intervention.
As conversations continued about the potential deployment, residents began to voice their concerns about increased racial profiling and arrests. Fielder articulated these concerns by stating: “The moment that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown can’t freely walk outside without the fear of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and arresting them…” She said that solidarity and fostering connections with fellow community members would be crucial to navigating this stormy chapter.
Public safety advocates, including U.S. Rep Barbara Lee, have condemned the proposed deployment. She continued, saying “the solution to real public safety comes from Oakland-based solutions, not from a federal military occupation.” This view is part and parcel with a developing mood that community-directed efforts can better solve local problems than top-down federal solutions.