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The White House seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy scores of federal agents to the Bay Area region for a significant immigration enforcement operation, sparking criticism from California leaders.

Specifics of the Mission

Information of the deployment were still emerging, but it will reportedly include more than 100 government officers, as reported. The agents are scheduled to begin using the military installation in the East Bay, opposite San Francisco. It was still uncertain whether national guard troops would participate.

Government Backlash

The operation is the result of weeks of statements by the administration to take action against the liberal city. Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the move, describing it as “straight from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He deploys unidentified officers, he deploys Border Patrol, he deploys immigration officials, he instills worry and terror in the neighborhood so that he can claim credit for handling that by sending in the military forces,” Newsom said. “This is exactly like the firestarter fighting the inferno.”

City Readiness

San Francisco is the newest major city focused on by Donald Trump’s campaign of large-scale detentions. The deployment is likely to cause a confrontation between the White House and municipal authorities who have pledged to prevent militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been preparing for an extended period for Trump to carry out ongoing warnings to dispatch personnel to the city. At a Wednesday public announcement, San Francisco’s city leader stated again that the city was prepared.

“During this period, we have been preparing for the chance of an impending government operation in our city,” stated the official, noting that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s support for our newcomer populations, and ensure our departments are organized ahead of any national intervention.”

Judicial Context

In spite of court battles to missions in a several municipalities, including Chicago, Oregon and Southern California, Trump has claimed “complete control” to deploy the military forces in cities, citing the presidential authority which enables presidents specific authority to dispatch personnel on US soil.

Community Reaction

The governor, who previously served as San Francisco’s chief executive – had pledged to step in “immediately” to a deployment in the city. “The notion that the national administration can send forces into our cities with no justification supported by evidence, no oversight, no accountability, disregard for state sovereignty – it represents an infringement on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Community groups, including social justice nonprofits established during the previous presidential term, have prepared to rapidly assemble a large protest in the city, as well as vigils at community centers.

Community Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, elected official informed journalists last week she and her voters had been anticipating this moment. “The time that people stop going to work, when people of color cannot move about freely without the apprehension of government officers discriminating against and detaining them, the time when parents stop sending kids to school, are too scared to go to the grocery store or medical provider,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is fundamentally a closure the extent of which we have not experienced since Covid.”

Military Condition

Approximately several hundred out of four thousand regional state soldiers remain federalized under an order from Trump. Roughly 200 of them had been sent to Oregon, where they were staying in standby during a legal battle over their deployment.

This time, Newsom said he had requested the local soldiers under his command to staff charity kitchens amid the federal closure.