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The White House was preparing on Wednesday to dispatch scores of law enforcement personnel to the Bay Area region for a major crackdown on immigration, prompting condemnation from California leaders.

Specifics of the Mission

Specifics of the deployment were continuing to unfold, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ government officers, according to reports. The personnel are expected to begin occupying the military installation in Alameda, opposite San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether state soldiers would join the operation.

Government Reaction

The deployment follows months of threats by Donald Trump to target the progressive municipality. Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the move, calling it “right out of the dictator’s handbook”.

“He dispatches unidentified officers, he sends out border agents, he sends out ICE, he creates concern and apprehension in the neighborhood so that he can lay claim for addressing that by dispatching the national guard,” Newsom said. “This mirrors the firestarter putting out the fire.”

City Readiness

San Francisco is the newest large urban area focused on by Donald Trump’s campaign of widespread apprehensions. The mission is expected to trigger a standoff between the administration and city officials who have pledged to prevent paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for an extended period for Trump to carry out frequent statements to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s city leader stated again that the city was equipped.

“For months, we have been expecting the possibility of an impending government operation in our city,” said the mayor, noting that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s assistance to our immigrant communities, and make certain our offices are prepared prior to any federal deployment.”

Constitutional Background

Despite judicial disputes to missions in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, Portland and Southern California, Trump has asserted “unquestioned power” to send the state troops in cities, citing the Insurrection Act which allows presidents certain rights to dispatch personnel on US soil.

Community Reaction

Newsom, who previously served as San Francisco’s mayor – had vowed to take action “right away” to a mission in the city. “The concept that the federal government can send forces into our cities with no justification based on facts, no oversight, no responsibility, no consideration of regional control – it represents an infringement on the judicial framework,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including social justice nonprofits established during the initial federal leadership, have prepped to rapidly assemble a public demonstration in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at public spaces.

Neighborhood Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a predominantly Latino community, elected official stated to media last week she and her voters had been bracing for this time. “The time that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown are afraid to go outdoors without the fear of Trump’s federal agents discriminating against and arresting them, the moment when students avoid classrooms, become too afraid to go to the grocery store or doctor,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is essentially a closure the scale of which we have not experienced since the pandemic.”

National Guard Status

Roughly three hundred out of four thousand regional military personnel stay under federal control under an command from Trump. Roughly 200 of them had been dispatched to the neighboring state, where they were waiting in limbo during a legal battle over their assignment.

This week, Newsom said he had summoned the state military personnel under his command to staff charity kitchens throughout the federal closure.