WASHINGTON (TNND) — Democratic San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said if federal immigration officers are deployed to the city, crime won’t be reduced, rather “chaos and violence” will ensue, announcing Thursday he spoke with the president who would not deploy troops to the city.
Mayor Lurie said in a statement he spoke with President Donald Trump overnight:
“I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise. Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office. We have work to do, and we would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery. We appreciate that the president understands that we are the global hub for technology, and when San Francisco is strong, our country is strong.”
In that conversation, the president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.
“My team will continue to monitor the situation closely, and our city remains prepared for any scenario,” he said.
“These tactics are designed to incite backlash, chaos and violence, which are then used as an excuse to deploy military personnel,” Lurie commented Wednesday night on X.
President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that he would send border patrol agents into San Francisco, California.
This is due to an effort to track down migrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Over 100 Customs and Border Protection agents came to Alameda on Thursday, according to local media. The U.S. Coast Guard was set to provide a base for them in San Francisco.
Mayor Lurie said that the city had been preparing for a federal deployment for months.
“Our communities have already endured the painful impact of aggressive immigration enforcement,” he wrote on X. “At the same time, we continue to see escalated operations across the country.”
He said that on Tuesday he signed an executive directive that would increase support for the city’s immigrant communities.
“And while we cannot control the federal government, here in San Francisco, we define who we are,” he said. “We stick to our values. We support our communities the way we always have.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom also expressed outrage over the once-planned deployment, calling the move, “right out of the dictator’s handbook,” on X.