Federal agents sent to San Francisco area and mayor says it’s meant to incite ‘chaos and violence’

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday it is providing a base of operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the San Francisco area as part of its effort to support federal efforts to track down immigrants in the country illegally and provide border and maritime security.

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the operation, reported more than 100 CBP and other federal agents will begin arriving Thursday at the base in Alameda, a move immediately condemned by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The two Democrats said the surge is meant to provoke violent protests.

CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. A statement provided to media by the Coast Guard said in part that “through a whole of government approach, we are leveraging our unique authorities and capabilities to detect, deter, and interdict illegal aliens, narco-terrorists, and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border.”

Soon after the deployment was first reported, Lurie livestreamed a nine-minute statement from City Hall, flanked by other elected officials, and cautioned against giving federal officials working from “a playbook” any excuse to crack down. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he plans to deploy National Guard troops to the city to quell crime, but his administration hasn’t offered a timeline for doing so.

“In cities across the country, masked immigration officials are deployed to use aggressive enforcement tactics that instill fear so people don’t feel safe going about their daily lives,” Lurie said. “These tactics are designed to incite backlash, chaos and violence, which are then used as an excuse to deploy military personnel.”

As is his custom, Lurie did not refer to the president or address him by name.

Trump has deployed the Guard to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, to help fight what he says is rampant crime. Los Angeles was the first city where Trump deployed the Guard, arguing it was necessary to protect federal buildings and federal agents as protesters fought back against mass immigration arrests.

He has since said they are needed in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as well, although lawsuits by Democratic officials in both cities have so far blocked troops from going out on city streets.

Trump recently renewed his musings about sending the Guard to San Francisco, saying in a Fox News interview Sunday that the city “was truly one of the great cities of the world” before it went “wrong” and “woke.”

His assertions of out-of-control crime in the city of roughly 830,000 has baffled local and state leaders who point to statistics showing that many crimes are at record lows.

Newsom’s administration said it would push back forcefully on any deployment, as it did when Trump first ordered the guard into Los Angeles against the governor’s wishes. California Attorney General Rob Bonta vowed to “be in court within hours, if not minutes” if there is a federal deployment, and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu has promised the same.

At a news conference Wednesday, Newsom held up what he said was a lawsuit the state would file if Trump sends troops to San Francisco.

“We’re going to be fierce in terms of our response,” said Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco. “This is the lawsuit that I will file within a nanosecond of any efforts to send the military to one of America’s great cities.”

The Coast Guard base in Alameda that is hosting the CBP agents is between Oakland and San Francisco, both sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with the federal government on civil immigration operations. A Homeland Security statement said the agency is “targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists.”

Lurie urged the public to protest peacefully. He said he had just signed an executive directive to coordinate the city’s response to a potential federal deployment and provide support for immigrants.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee issued a statement saying: “Real public safety comes from Oakland-based solutions, not federal military occupation.”

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Associated Press writer Sophie Austin contributed from Sacramento, California