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The federal government was preparing on Wednesday to deploy dozens of government officers to the northern California for a significant crackdown on immigration, triggering criticism from local politicians.

Details of the Deployment

Details of the deployment were continuing to unfold, but it will allegedly feature over a hundred federal agents, according to reports. The agents are reportedly set to begin using the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, opposite San Francisco. It was still uncertain whether national guard troops would participate.

Political Response

The deployment is the result of months of statements by the president to focus on the Democratic-run city. The state's leader Gavin Newsom criticized the decision, labeling it “right out of the dictator’s handbook”.

“He sends out covered agents, he sends out Border Patrol, he deploys federal agents, he generates anxiety and fear in the neighborhood so that he can lay claim for addressing that by deploying the state troops,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the incendiary extinguishing the fire.”

City Readiness

San Francisco is the newest large urban area targeted by the federal effort of mass immigration arrests. The deployment is anticipated to provoke a confrontation between the White House and municipal authorities who have pledged to prevent armed border control in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for weeks for Trump to fulfill ongoing warnings to send troops to the city. At a Wednesday public announcement, San Francisco’s mayor emphasized that the city was equipped.

“During this period, we have been expecting the possibility of a potential federal deployment in our city,” stated the official, explaining that he had implemented additional measures on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s protection of our immigrant communities, and ensure our departments are prepared ahead of any federal deployment.”

Legal Context

Despite court battles to missions in a multiple urban areas, including Chicago, Oregon and LA, Trump has claimed “unquestioned power” to send the national guard in cities, citing the federal statute which permits presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on American territory.

Public Reaction

Newsom, who previously served as San Francisco’s city leader – had pledged to intervene “without delay” to a deployment in the city. “The concept that the national administration can deploy troops into our cities with no valid reason based on facts, no oversight, no answerability, no consideration of state sovereignty – it constitutes an attack on the rule of law,” he said on Wednesday.

Local organizations, including social justice nonprofits formed in the previous presidential term, have prepped to rapidly assemble a large protest in the city, as well as vigils at local libraries.

Neighborhood Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, elected official told reporters last week she and her residents had been preparing for this moment. “The point that workers cease employment, when people of color are afraid to go outdoors without the apprehension of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and arresting them, the time when parents stop sending kids to school, become too afraid to go to the supermarket or doctor,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is basically a closure the likes of which we have not experienced since the health crisis.”

National Guard Status

Approximately 300 out of several thousand state military personnel continue under national command under an order from Trump. Roughly several hundred of them had been sent to the neighboring state, where they were waiting in limbo during a judicial dispute over their deployment.

This period, Newsom said he had requested the local soldiers under his command to operate food banks during the government shutdown.