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The federal government was preparing on Wednesday to dispatch numerous of government officers to the Bay Area region for a significant crackdown on immigration, sparking condemnation from local politicians.

Details of the Operation

Specifics of the deployment were gradually becoming clear, but it will reportedly include approximately 100+ law enforcement personnel, as reported. The officers are reportedly set to begin utilizing the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, opposite San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether national guard troops would join the operation.

Official Response

The operation comes after weeks of threats by the administration to take action against the liberal city. California’s governor Gavin Newsom condemned the action, describing it as “straight from the dictator’s handbook”.

“He deploys masked men, he deploys border agents, he deploys ICE, he instills concern and apprehension in the population so that he can lay claim for handling that by dispatching the military forces,” Newsom said. “This mirrors the incendiary putting out the fire.”

Municipal Preparation

San Francisco is the latest metropolitan center singled out by the administration's initiative of widespread apprehensions. The operation is expected to trigger a showdown between the White House and city officials who have pledged to block paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been readying for weeks for Trump to carry out frequent statements to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s municipal chief emphasized that the city was ready.

“During this period, we have been expecting the likelihood of some kind of government operation in our city,” said the mayor, explaining that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “strengthen the city’s assistance to our immigrant communities, and ensure our departments are organized prior to any federal deployment.”

Legal Background

In spite of judicial disputes to operations in a multiple urban areas, including the Windy City, the Pacific Northwest and Southern California, Trump has claimed “complete control” to deploy the military forces in cities, referencing the Insurrection Act which permits presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on domestic land.

Community Response

Newsom – who previously served as San Francisco’s mayor – had pledged to step in “immediately” to a mission in the city. “The notion that the White House can dispatch personnel into our cities with no valid reason based on facts, no supervision, no accountability, no consideration of local authority – it constitutes an attack on the rule of law,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including advocacy organizations established during the previous presidential term, have prepped to quickly mobilize a large protest in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at public spaces.

Neighborhood Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission district, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, local representative informed journalists last week she and her constituents had been bracing for this situation. “The moment that people stop going to work, when minority individuals are afraid to go outdoors without the apprehension of national personnel racially profiling and detaining them, the point when families keep children home, are too scared to go to the food market or medical provider,” she said. “Our ongoing preparations in the Mission is fundamentally a shutdown the extent of which we haven’t seen since the health crisis.”

State Troops Condition

Approximately three hundred out of 4,000 state national guard troops continue under national command under an order from Trump. Approximately two hundred of them had been sent to the Pacific Northwest, where they were remaining in uncertainty during a legal battle over their assignment.

This time, Newsom said he had called the state military personnel under his authority to operate food banks during the government shutdown.