SF Mayor Directs Police to Protect Immigrants, Protesters Ahead of Anticipated Raids

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is directing local law enforcement to support immigrant communities, protect peaceful protesters and refrain from assisting with federal civil immigration enforcement — in line with the city’s sanctuary policy — ahead of the anticipated arrival of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in the Bay Area this week.

The mayor on Wednesday announced the new executive directive and said he had activated the city’s Department of Emergency Management shortly after reports that the Trump administration had dispatched roughly 100 federal agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to the region. They are slated to arrive at the Alameda Coast Guard base on Thursday, KQED has confirmed.

The National Guard has previously deployed in cities where federal immigration agents are carrying out enforcement operations and local leaders are anticipating that troops will come to San Francisco.

In a quickly scheduled public address, Lurie criticized aggressive immigration enforcement raids and displays of force by the National Guard, and called on San Franciscans to peacefully protest. In keeping with his typical approach, he avoided calling out President Donald Trump or the Trump administration by name, instead referring to “this federal administration.”

“These tactics are designed to incite backlash, chaos and violence, which are then used as an excuse to deploy military personnel. They are intentionally creating a dangerous situation in the name of public safety,” Lurie said. “And while we cannot control the federal government, here in San Francisco, we define who we are. We stick to our values.”

Arrests outside of San Francisco’s immigration courthouse by ICE agents have increased this year. The mayor’s latest order calls on the city’s law enforcement agencies to “support San Francisco’s immigrant communities” and directs departments to “coordinate public safety and communication procedures in the event of enhanced federal immigration enforcement actions or federal deployment of the National Guard in San Francisco.”

Lurie’s response comes one day after City Attorney David Chiu said his office is prepared to sue the Trump administration if the president follows through on recent threats to send the National Guard to San Francisco.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors pressed Lurie over his administration’s plans for keeping residents safe in the face of increased ICE raids. The mayor responded by saying that crime rates are dramatically lower this year than in previous years, defended local law enforcement capabilities and said his office has been meeting regularly with city agencies to prepare for potential interventions by the National Guard.

“This scenario has become increasingly and terrifyingly more real for thousands of our constituents over the past six days,” said Supervisor Jackie Fielder, whose district includes the heavily Latino Mission District. “We’ve been bracing for this moment. The moment that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown can’t freely walk outside without the fear of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and arresting them. The moment when parents stop sending their kids to school, become too afraid to go get groceries, or go to the doctor.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sued President Donald Trump earlier this year for deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles during anti-ICE protests, also vowed Tuesday to sue again “in minutes” if Trump sends troops to San Francisco.

On Wednesday, Newsom ordered a National Guard unit to come to the Bay Area in order to support food banks across the state as the federal government shutdown continues. The move potentially limits National Guard personnel available for Trump’s deployment threats.

Trump has deployed the National Guard in several major Democratic cities this year, including Chicago and Portland, to follow and protect ICE agents during immigration enforcement. Details about any military following immigration agents to San Francisco have not been confirmed.

Lurie’s words on Wednesday marked a more defiant tone for the mayor.

“Uncoordinated federal action undermines our work. Having the military posted in front of our schools, restaurants and office buildings will hinder our progress and let chaos get in the way of our recovery,” Lurie said. “It cuts off families from income, keeps children from the food and social services they desperately need, and stops people from reporting crime and taking their loved ones to the hospital. This doesn’t make our city safer — it terrorizes our communities.”

Lurie, standing beside Chiu in his address on Wednesday, underscored that the National Guard does not have the power to make arrests or police the city’s fentanyl crisis and that local law enforcement cannot aid federal immigration enforcement.

But local police are also prohibited from interfering with federal agents, who can make arrests.

The mayor did invite greater cooperation with federal law enforcement agencies to arrest drug dealers.

“We would welcome the opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets. That’s the work we need to keep doing,” Lurie said. “A federal deployment of the National Guard can’t do that. They cannot arrest drug dealers or shut down open-air drug markets.”