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The federal government was preparing on Wednesday to send numerous of law enforcement personnel to the San Francisco Bay Area for a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, triggering criticism from state officials.

Details of the Operation

Details of the mission were still emerging, but it will reportedly include more than 100 law enforcement personnel, according to reports. The agents are reportedly set to begin using the Coast Guard facility in Alameda, opposite San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would join the operation.

Government Backlash

The mission follows weeks of threats by the president to target the progressive municipality. The state's leader Gavin Newsom criticized the move, labeling it “taken directly from the autocrat's manual”.

“He sends out masked men, he dispatches Border Patrol, he sends out immigration officials, he generates concern and apprehension in the neighborhood so that he can lay claim for addressing that by sending in the national guard,” he declared. “This mirrors the firestarter fighting the fire.”

City Readiness

San Francisco is the latest major city focused on by Donald Trump’s campaign of large-scale detentions. The operation is anticipated to provoke a showdown between the White House and local leaders who have vowed to stop militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been preparing for an extended period for Trump to make good on frequent statements to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s municipal chief stated again that the city was ready.

“For months, we have been anticipating the possibility of a potential national intervention in our city,” said the mayor, noting that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “strengthen the city’s protection of our foreign-born residents, and ensure our offices are prepared ahead of any national intervention.”

Constitutional Context

Regardless of judicial disputes to deployments in a multiple urban areas, including Illinois, Portland and LA, Trump has declared “unquestioned power” to dispatch the military forces in cities, pointing to the Insurrection Act which permits presidents specific authority to dispatch personnel on domestic land.

Community Response

The governor, who previously served as San Francisco’s city leader – had committed to step in “right away” to a mission in the city. “The concept that the federal government can dispatch personnel into our cities with no valid reason based on facts, no supervision, no accountability, disregard for state sovereignty – it’s a direct assault on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Local organizations, including civil rights groups created during the initial federal leadership, have organized to swiftly gather a mass rally in the city, as well as vigils at local libraries.

Local Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission district, a mostly Latin American neighborhood, city supervisor told reporters last week she and her constituents had been anticipating this time. “The moment that workers cease employment, when anyone Black or brown are afraid to go outdoors without the concern of national personnel discriminating against and apprehending them, the time when students avoid classrooms, are too scared to go to the supermarket or physician,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is essentially a shutdown the extent of which we have not witnessed since the health crisis.”

Military Status

About several hundred out of 4,000 state military personnel continue under national command under an order from Trump. Approximately several hundred of them had been transferred to the neighboring state, where they were remaining in uncertainty in the midst of a court case over their deployment.

This time, Newsom said he had summoned the state military personnel under his command to operate distribution centers during the federal closure.