Alameda County is activating emergency operations, according to Centro Legal de La Raza attorney Lourdes Martinez, and would be operating its Immigration Legal and Education Partnership hotline through the weekend.

Milli Atkinson, the director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program with the Bar Association of San Francisco, said the city’s rapid response network was also aware of the potential for increased operations targeting San Francisco and is “prepared to respond from a place of power, not panic.”

California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice will also provide attorney activation for rapid response networks in the region, according to communications manager Alex Mensing.

Local political leaders were also quick to respond to the news Wednesday, including San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who offered his most forceful rejection of the Trump administration in a virtual press conference, saying he had signed an emergency directive to build on the city’s preparation for possible federal troop deployment and was activating the Department of Emergency Management.

He urged anyone who protests to do so peacefully.

In Oakland, Mayor Barbara Lee said the city “remains a proud sanctuary city committed to standing with our immigrant families.”

“We will notify our community with as much information as possible about any federal deployment,” she said in a statement. “Real public safety comes from Oakland-based solutions, not federal military occupation.”

Mayor Barbara Lee speaks during a press conference at Oakland City Hall in Oakland on Aug. 14, 2025, condemning President Trump’s recent remarks about Oakland. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

“Based on what they’re doing in other parts of the country, we certainly are going to be very vigilant around places where there may be large numbers of our immigrant community members,” Fortunato Bas said. “We have your back, and we are going to work very hard to defend the rights of our immigrant community members.”

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that the Trump administration had dispatched federal agents to Alameda.

While the officials arriving on Wednesday aren’t members of the National Guard, the planned deployment comes after Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he planned to make San Francisco his next target for federal military deployment.

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu and Attorney General Rob Bonta have already vowed to take legal action immediately should troops be sent to San Francisco.

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu speaks during a press conference with elected and public safety officials and labor leaders in front of City Hall in San Francisco on Jan. 28, 2025, to reaffirm San Francisco’s commitment to being a Sanctuary City. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

“We understand the anticipated increase in immigration enforcement in the area may be a precursor to that deployment,” a spokesperson for the California Department of Justice said. “Federal agents like CBP can enforce immigration laws, but we will continue to monitor the Trump Administration’s actions closely for compliance with the law.”

Thus far, lawsuits have hindered deployments in Chicago and Portland, though the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday lifted an order that had temporarily blocked troops’ access to the Oregon city.

Trump said he could use the Insurrection Act to deploy troops in San Francisco. The law allows the president to federalize state National Guard units and deploy federal troops to cities during times of heightened civil disorder or insurrection, giving him “unquestioned power,” he said.

“Everybody agrees you’re allowed to use that [the Insurrection Act] and there are no more court cases, there is no more anything. We’re trying to do it in a nicer manner, but we can always use the Insurrection Act,” he said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.

President Donald Trump answers questions during a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Trump announced he will use his authority to place the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under federal control to assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital, and that the National Guard will be deployed to D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The city of Alameda said its police department would not be part of any federal immigration enforcement operations and would not enforce federal immigration laws or related civil warrants. It urged people choosing to protest in response to the deployment to “avoid direct interaction with federal law enforcement.”

Gov. Newsom echoed the sentiment on social media, saying, “President Trump and Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos.

“Help keep yourself and your communities safe. Remain peaceful.”

“Oakland and [Alameda] County have a long history of protests and social justice, and we know how to protest peacefully and make our voices heard,” Fortunato Bas said. “It’s going to be very important to have a united voice that we do not support any federal deployment in our cities. We do not support increased immigration raids. And we will protest them and do that peacefully.”

KQED’s Tyche Hendricks and Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.