Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee released a press release today that she has been told by Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez that “Border Patrol operations are cancelled for the greater Bay Area — which includes Oakland — at this time.”
Sgt. Roberto Morales, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed to The Oaklandside that Sanchez has been told the federal government’s planned surge operation won’t happen — at this time — in Oakland and the rest of the county.
Not much is known about what Customs and Border Protection was planning, but the Trump administration had ordered some kind of “surge” operation targeting San Francisco and possibly other parts of the Bay Area, reportedly to begin on Saturday. On Thursday, The Oaklandside saw a caravan of CBP agents entering Coast Guard Island, a base located in the Oakland Estuary. The Coast Guard told The Oaklandside on Wednesday that the facilities would be providing support to CBP for an “operation” that was underway.
Protesters gathered at the entrance to Coast Guard Island throughout the day on Thursday, holding a march, a picket, and a faith vigil opposing any immigration crackdown.
Later in the day, President Donald Trump announced on social media he was pausing any federal “surge” in San Francisco. That left Oakland and other Bay Area communities wondering if they too would be spared.
Trump and the Department of Homeland Security, which governs CBP, have yet to clarify publicly what their intentions are for Oakland and other East Bay cities.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
“*” indicates required fields
Before joining The Oaklandside as News Editor, Darwin BondGraham was a freelance investigative reporter covering police and prosecutorial misconduct. He has reported on gun violence for The Guardian and was a staff writer for the East Bay Express. He holds a doctorate in sociology from UC Santa Barbara and was the co-recipient of the George Polk Award for local reporting in 2017. He is also the co-author of The Riders Come Out at Night, a book examining the Oakland Police Department’s history of corruption and reform.
Roselyn Romero covers public safety for The Oaklandside. She was previously The Oaklandside’s small business reporter as a 2023-24 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism Fellow. Before joining the team, she was an investigative intern at NBC Bay Area and the inaugural intern for the Global Investigations team of The Associated Press through a partnership with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2022 with a bachelor’s in journalism and minors in Spanish, ethnic studies, and women’s & gender studies. She is a proud daughter of Filipino immigrants and was born and raised in Oxnard, California.