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The White House was preparing on Wednesday to deploy dozens of government officers to the San Francisco Bay Area for a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, triggering criticism from California leaders.

Specifics of the Operation

Details of the mission were gradually becoming clear, but it will reportedly include over a hundred federal agents, as reported. The agents are reportedly set to begin using the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, facing San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether national guard troops would also be involved.

Political Backlash

The operation follows an extended period of threats by Donald Trump to take action against the progressive municipality. The state's leader Gavin Newsom denounced the move, calling it “taken directly from the autocrat's manual”.

“He deploys masked men, he deploys customs officers, he deploys immigration officials, he generates anxiety and fear in the neighborhood so that he can lay claim for addressing that by sending in the military forces,” he declared. “This is exactly like the arsonist extinguishing the blaze.”

Local Planning

San Francisco is the newest metropolitan center focused on by the administration's initiative of widespread apprehensions. The mission is likely to cause a standoff between the federal government and city officials who have committed to stop paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been preparing for months for Trump to carry out repeated threats to dispatch personnel to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s mayor stated again that the city was prepared.

“During this period, we have been expecting the chance of some kind of government operation 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 ensure our departments are coordinated before any federal deployment.”

Legal Framework

Despite legal challenges to missions in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles, Trump has asserted “complete control” to deploy the national guard in cities, pointing to the presidential authority which enables presidents limited power to deploy troops on American territory.

Local Preparation

The governor, who was formerly as San Francisco’s mayor – had vowed to take action “right away” to a operation in the city. “The notion that the national administration can deploy troops into our cities with no justification based on facts, no supervision, no answerability, no consideration of local authority – it’s a direct assault on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including social justice nonprofits created during the previous presidential term, have prepped to quickly mobilize a public demonstration in the city, as well as peaceful assemblies at local libraries.

Neighborhood Consequences

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a mostly Latin American population, city supervisor told reporters last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this moment. “The time that workers cease employment, when minority individuals can’t freely walk outside without the fear of national personnel racially profiling and apprehending them, the point when families keep children home, grow too frightened to go to the supermarket or doctor,” she said. “The readiness efforts in the Mission is basically a closure the scale of which we have not experienced since Covid.”

Military Status

About three hundred out of 4,000 California state soldiers remain federalized under an order from Trump. About two hundred of them had been transferred to the neighboring state, where they were staying in standby amid a legal battle over their mission.

This period, Newsom said he had summoned the state military personnel under his authority to staff food banks throughout the government shutdown.