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The federal government appeared poised on Wednesday to deploy dozens of government officers to the northern California for a significant immigration enforcement operation, prompting outrage from California leaders.

Details of the Deployment

Specifics of the mission were continuing to unfold, but it will allegedly feature approximately 100+ government officers, as reported. The agents are scheduled to begin occupying the military installation in across the bay, opposite San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would join the operation.

Official Reaction

The mission is the result of weeks of threats by the president to take action against the progressive municipality. The state's leader Gavin Newsom condemned the action, labeling it “straight from the autocrat's manual”.

“He dispatches covered agents, he dispatches Border Patrol, he dispatches ICE, he creates concern and apprehension in the neighborhood so that he can take credit for handling that by deploying the national guard,” he declared. “This is exactly like the arsonist fighting the inferno.”

City Preparation

San Francisco is the newest major city focused on by the federal effort of large-scale detentions. The operation is anticipated to provoke a standoff between the White House and municipal authorities who have vowed to stop militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been readying for months for Trump to fulfill ongoing warnings to deploy forces to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s municipal chief reiterated that the city was equipped.

“Over recent weeks, we have been expecting the possibility of an impending government operation in our city,” stated the official, noting that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s support for our immigrant communities, and make certain our agencies are organized ahead of any national intervention.”

Legal Background

Regardless of court battles to operations in a number of cities, including the Windy City, Portland and LA, Trump has claimed “absolute authority” to send the state troops in cities, pointing to the federal statute which enables presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on US soil.

Public Reaction

Newsom, who previously served as San Francisco’s city leader – had pledged to step in “immediately” to a operation in the city. “The notion that the national administration can send forces into our cities with no legitimate cause based on facts, no supervision, no responsibility, disregard for state sovereignty – it constitutes an attack on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including civil rights groups formed in the first Trump administration, have prepped to rapidly assemble a public demonstration in the city, as well as vigils at community centers.

Local Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a mostly Latin American community, elected official informed journalists last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this moment. “The moment that employees avoid workplaces, when anyone Black or brown are afraid to go outdoors without the apprehension of national personnel targeting based on race and arresting them, the time when students avoid classrooms, grow too frightened to go to the food market or doctor,” she said. “Our ongoing preparations in the Mission is fundamentally a halt the likes of which we have not experienced since the health crisis.”

National Guard Condition

Approximately three hundred out of 4,000 regional national guard troops continue under national command under an order from Trump. Roughly several hundred of them had been dispatched to the neighboring state, where they were remaining in uncertainty in the midst of a judicial dispute over their mission.

This time, Newsom said he had summoned the state military personnel under his control to staff distribution centers throughout the government shutdown.