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The White House seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy numerous of federal agents to the northern California for a major crackdown on immigration, prompting outrage from state officials.

Specifics of the Operation

Specifics of the operation were continuing to unfold, but it will allegedly feature approximately 100+ government officers, based on information. The agents are expected to begin utilizing the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, opposite San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether state soldiers would participate.

Political Reaction

The mission comes after months of threats by the president to take action against the Democratic-run city. California’s governor Gavin Newsom condemned the action, labeling it “straight from the dictator’s handbook”.

“He dispatches covered agents, he dispatches Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he instills worry and terror in the population so that he can lay claim for solving that by sending in the national guard,” he declared. “This mirrors the incendiary putting out the fire.”

Local Readiness

San Francisco is the newest major city singled out by the administration's initiative of large-scale detentions. The operation is expected to trigger a showdown between the federal government and city officials who have pledged to block paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been preparing for months for Trump to fulfill ongoing warnings to dispatch personnel to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s mayor emphasized that the city was equipped.

“During this period, we have been expecting the likelihood of some kind of national intervention in our city,” declared the leader, adding that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “bolster the city’s protection of our immigrant communities, and guarantee our departments are prepared ahead of any national intervention.”

Judicial Framework

Despite court battles to deployments in a number of cities, including Illinois, Portland and Los Angeles, Trump has declared “unquestioned power” to send the national guard in cities, referencing the federal statute which allows presidents certain rights to send forces on US soil.

Community Preparation

The governor, who once held office as San Francisco’s chief executive – had committed to step in “without delay” to a deployment in the city. “The idea that the federal government can send forces into our cities with no legitimate cause grounded in reality, no supervision, no answerability, no respect for state sovereignty – it’s a direct assault on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including civil rights groups formed in the first Trump administration, have organized to swiftly gather a large protest in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at local libraries.

Local Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission district, a largely Hispanic neighborhood, elected official told reporters last week she and her constituents had been preparing for this moment. “The point that people stop going to work, when minority individuals can’t freely walk outside without the fear of government officers discriminating against and apprehending them, the moment when families keep children home, are too scared to go to the food market or physician,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is fundamentally a shutdown the scale of which we have not witnessed since Covid.”

Military Status

Approximately three hundred out of four thousand state military personnel continue under national command under an directive from Trump. Roughly two hundred of them had been dispatched to the Pacific Northwest, where they were waiting in limbo in the midst of a legal battle over their assignment.

This week, Newsom said he had requested the local soldiers under his control to operate charity kitchens amid the government shutdown.