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The White House seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy dozens of law enforcement personnel to the San Francisco Bay Area for a significant border security initiative, sparking outrage from California leaders.

Specifics of the Operation

Specifics of the operation were continuing to unfold, but it will allegedly feature over a hundred law enforcement personnel, according to reports. The officers are reportedly set to begin using the military installation in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco. It remained unclear whether military personnel would also be involved.

Official Backlash

The operation comes after months of threats by the administration to target the Democratic-run city. Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the move, describing it as “right out of the authoritarian playbook”.

“He dispatches covered agents, he sends out Border Patrol, he dispatches federal agents, he creates anxiety and fear in the neighborhood so that he can take credit for addressing that by deploying the state troops,” Newsom said. “This mirrors the arsonist putting out the blaze.”

Municipal Planning

San Francisco is the most recent large urban area singled out by the federal effort of mass immigration arrests. The mission is expected to trigger a showdown between the administration and local leaders who have vowed to block militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for an extended period for Trump to carry out repeated threats to deploy forces to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s city leader reiterated that the city was prepared.

“For months, we have been expecting the possibility of an impending national intervention in our city,” said the mayor, adding that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s support for our immigrant communities, and guarantee our offices are organized prior to any national intervention.”

Constitutional Background

Regardless of court battles to deployments in a several municipalities, including the Windy City, the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles, Trump has claimed “unquestioned power” to dispatch the military forces in cities, pointing to the Insurrection Act which enables presidents certain rights to dispatch personnel on domestic land.

Public Preparation

Newsom, who was formerly as San Francisco’s city leader – had vowed to step in “without delay” to a deployment in the city. “The idea that the national administration can deploy troops into our cities with no valid reason grounded in reality, no oversight, no answerability, no consideration of local authority – it represents an infringement on the rule of law,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including social justice nonprofits established during the initial federal leadership, have prepped to swiftly gather a mass rally in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at community centers.

Neighborhood Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a predominantly Latino population, local representative stated to media last week she and her constituents had been preparing for this situation. “The time that employees avoid workplaces, when people of color cannot move about freely without the concern of government officers targeting based on race and arresting them, the time when families keep children home, become too afraid to go to the grocery store or doctor,” she said. “Our ongoing preparations in the Mission is fundamentally a closure the extent of which we have not experienced since Covid.”

Military Condition

Roughly three hundred out of 4,000 California national guard troops continue under national command under an directive from Trump. Roughly several hundred of them had been sent to the Pacific Northwest, where they were staying in standby amid a judicial dispute over their assignment.

This time, Newsom said he had summoned the California national guard troops under his control to staff charity kitchens during the administrative stoppage.