SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Federal agents are headed to San Francisco as early as Thursday in the Trump administration’s continued series of immigration crackdowns on Democratic cities across the country, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.
More than 100 federal agents, including those from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, are expected to arrive Thursday at the Coast Guard Base in Alameda, according to the report. It’s unclear whether that will include agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The move comes days after San Francisco officials, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, publicly opposed Trump’s threats to deploy National Guard troops into the Bay Area. While the National Guard has not yet been deployed, this decision will likely serve as a precursor to sending troops to San Francisco, according to the report.
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Lurie said in a press conference on Wednesday that officials have been preparing for the possibility of “some kind of deployment” in San Francisco for months.
“For the last ten months, we have been taking steps to prepare for this kind of escalation here in San Francisco,” Lurie said. “I want to be very clear, we are prepared.”
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Lurie has said the deployment of the National Guard would not help address any public safety issues in San Francisco and that he trusted local law enforcement personnel to tackle crime. City Attorney David Chiu warned that his office would sue to keep the National Guard from being deployed in San Francisco, according to the report.
Lurie also said that violent crime has dropped to the lowest it’s been in 70 years and that tent encampments are at record lows.
“Some of that progress has come because we are working in partnership with in-state and federal law enforcement to tackle fentanyl,” Lurie said. “Thanks to that work, our city is on the rise.”
Trump, since August, has been threatening to send National Guard troops to the Bay Area, including San Francisco and Oakland. On Sunday, he reiterated his plan to send troops to San Francisco and that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if needed.
“We’re going to go to San Francisco and we’re going to make it great. It’ll be great again,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “It won’t be great if it keeps going like this.”
Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer to help during immigration operations and the accompanying protests. A judge ruled last month that Trump violated federal law when he deployed the troops in Southern California.
SEE ALSO: Gunfire Erupts During LA Immigration Stop, Suspect And Federal Agent Wounded
Still, Trump has continued with his threats about National Guard deployments and has followed through on some, recently deploying troops in Chicago and Portland.
Those cities have also fought the move, calling it overreach and aimed at provoking unrest. On Thursday, a federal appeals court ruled against the Trump administration, temporarily maintaining a lower court ban on deploying the National Guard to assist immigration officers in Illinois while the government pursues an appeal.
“These cities have to be safe. Our cities that are Democrat run — exclusively just about — are unsafe cities,” Trump said during the interview. “They’re a disaster.”
In a video posted to social media on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that Trump’s actions were “right out of the dictator’s handbook.”
He said Trump’s claims that there is “uncontrollable crime” in Democratic-led cities across the country are false, and that he’s using that rhetoric to create fear in communities as an excuse to deploy federal agents.
“Trump does this over and over again,” Newsom says in the video. “We cannot play his game.”
BREAKING: Donald Trump is sending federal agents to San Francisco. We know his playbook. We know what’s next. Watch. pic.twitter.com/NeyCXNDo8q
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 22, 2025
Local Editor Chris Lindahl contributed to this report.
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