San Francisco has joined a coalition of local jurisdictions from around the country urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Trump Administration from deploying the National Guard to Chicago as well as other American cities.
The coalition of 109 mayors, elected officials, cities and counties, including San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, filed an amicus brief to the SCOTUS, which is now considering whether to prevent the National guard deployment to Illinois in the case of Donald J. Trump, et al. v. State of Illinois, et al.
The move from Chiu comes as Trump repeatedly talks about deploying the national guard to San Francisco.
San Francisco Mayor Danie Lurie stated yesterday that sending the National Guard “to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer.”
The brief details how increasing deployments of the National Guard erodes state and local sovereignty, weakens community confidence in local law enforcement, disrupts social stability, and leaves local governments with millions of dollars in unpaid expenses.
“We urge the Court to uphold the bedrock legal principle that domestic law enforcement is not the military’s job,” said Chiu, noting that it should only be a last resort to where local resources are overwhelmed.
Chiu cited that San Francisco is currently at a 70-year low in homicides and a 22-year low in car break-ins. The fact that the city managed the recent “No Kings” demonstration which over 50,000 people participated without incident proves that the city is capable of keeping its own people safe. The local law enforcement also has a better understanding of the city, deeper ties to the community, and more experience of working with other city departments.
“Should President Trump make good on his ridiculous threats to send the military to San Francisco, our city is prepared, and my office is prepared to take the necessary legal action to defend San Francisco,” Chiu added.