In a surprise announcement, President Donald Trump said Thursday morning that a planned surge of federal immigration agents to San Francisco is being paused.
It’s unclear if the president’s statement applies to other cities in the Bay Area, like Oakland.
In a post on Truth Social, a social media app owned by the Trump family, Trump wrote the Department of Homeland Security was planning a “surge” operation for Saturday in San Francisco. However, friends of his called on Wednesday night, the day news of the immigration crackdown became public, and urged him not to go through with it.
Trump also wrote that he spoke to San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who asked Trump to hold off.
Lurie confirmed, in a press release today, that he spoke with the president. Lurie also said he spoke to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who “reaffirmed” Trump’s decision to hit pause.
“Late last night, I received a phone call from the President of the United States,” said Lurie. “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.”
According to Trump, the surge operation targeting San Francisco will no longer happen on Saturday.
The White House replied to questions from The Oaklandside with a link to the Truth Social post. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to our questions.
Trump’s comments today focused on San Francisco. It’s unclear if federal agents who are arriving will no longer be sent to other cities in the Bay Area, including Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond.
On Wednesday, the Coast Guard confirmed that Customs and Border Protection agents were being stationed at Coast Guard Island, a small base located in the estuary between Oakland and Alameda. On Thursday morning, CBP agents were seen entering the base. Hundreds of protesters also blocked and slowed traffic at the base entrance and Coast Guard security officers used a flash bang grenade to push back the crowd.
Little is known about the “surge” operation. Anonymous sources close to the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle that some sort of DHS operation was planned, but Trump administration officials have not made an announcement or shared any information beyond the president’s social media post.
Trump’s apparent decision to send federal agents to the Bay Area came after Salesforce CEO and Time Magazine owner Marc Benioff said he thought Trump should deploy troops to San Francisco. Benioff later walked back the comments, but not before Trump announced he would indeed send federal agents or troops.
Trump mentioned in his social media post today Jensen Huang, the CEO of AI chipmaker Nvidia, saying Huang also helped convince him that “the future of San Francisco is great.”
While there are problems in San Francisco, claims Trump has made about the city are false. Its homicide rate is at a historic low, and other crime levels are trending down. Trump has targeted Democratic-led cities, attempting to characterize them as dangerous and in need of federal law enforcement assistance and even National Guard troops, despite opposition from local and state leaders.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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