SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristin Noem on Monday said ICE agents will be coming to San Francisco under the direction of President Donald Trump.
For some months now, there’s been plenty of anticipation that ICE agents and National Guard troops would be deployed in San Francisco. And now the word appears to be – they’re coming. This despite protests from Governor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
At a Florida press conference, Noem doubled down on the National Guard presence in Chicago and Portland and indicated San Francisco is next, following comments from President Trump on Fox News Sunday.
RELATED: President Trump says he has ‘unquestioned power’ to send troops to San Francisco
“We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again. San Francisco is a great city. It won’t be great if it keeps going like this,” said Trump. “We’re gonna go to San Francisco. The difference is they want us in San Francisco.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta responded to the threats, saying we’re ready to be in court in hours, if not minutes, if the National Guard is deployed to San Francisco.
“San Francisco is not asking for the National Guard to come here, no matter what he says,” said Bonta.
Mayor Lurie released a statement Monday weighing in on Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to his city, saying that deploying troops wouldn’t help with the city’s ongoing efforts to combat drug dealing.
“I am deeply grateful to the members of our military for their service to our country, but the National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers–and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer,” he said.
The mayor didn’t refer to Trump by name in the statement. Lurie instead focused on the crime trends in the city, saying the violent crime rate “has fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s,” and that tent encampments were at record lows.
“There is no question we have more work to do. I ran for mayor because I see the impact of fentanyl use on our streets–when I drop my son off at school, when I talk to our business and community leaders, when I walk through the city in between meetings,” Lurie said.
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San Francisco law enforcement has already partnered with state and federal officials to shut down open-air drug markets, the mayor said.
According to Lurie, the city would welcome stronger coordination with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to carry out targeted operations, arrest drug dealers, and disrupt drug markets and multinational cartels.
“Under my leadership, we will always protect the people and the values that make San Francisco the greatest city in the world,” the mayor said. “That means welcoming people in our city and standing up for every member of our community and for the longstanding policies that have kept our communities safe. As your mayor, that has been and always will be my north star.”
Lurie’s statement on Monday comes a day before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting, where District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder announced plans to make a motion to ask the mayor about city preparedness in the event that the National Guard was deployed to the city.
Last week, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff apologized for comments he made in which he welcomed the deployment of National Guard troops to San Francisco.
But not before San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins pushed back on Benioff’s comments, vowing that if federal law enforcement were to be sent to San Francisco, she would not hesitate to hold them accountable if they broke the law.
RELATED: SF DA fires back after Salesforce CEO suggests Trump send National Guard to city
“We don’t need your help here. San Francisco’s crime rates have been dropping for the last three years. We are at historic lows in many categories,” Jenkins said.
As for when the National Guard arrives? There’s still no timetable.
“There is no lawful basis to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco. Period. Full stop. End of story. So what can we do?” said Bonta. “We’ll see him in court. As we always do when he wrongfully and unlawfully deployed troops to Los Angeles, we saw him in court. We got two orders. One blocking the federalization and two the actions on the ground that violated the Posse Comitatus Act. We’ll do it again immediately. We’re ready. We see this coming.”
The Bay City News Service contributed to this article.
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