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The federal government seemed ready on Wednesday to deploy scores of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a significant border security initiative, triggering criticism from California leaders.

Specifics of the Mission

Information of the operation were gradually becoming clear, but it will allegedly feature over a hundred government officers, according to reports. The personnel are reportedly set to begin using the Coast Guard facility in Alameda, opposite San Francisco. It was not confirmed whether military personnel would join the operation.

Government Response

The mission comes after months of statements by the president to focus on the Democratic-run city. Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the move, describing it as “right out of the dictator’s handbook”.

“He sends out masked men, he deploys Border Patrol, he sends out immigration officials, he instills anxiety and fear in the population so that he can take credit for handling that by sending in the national guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the incendiary fighting the inferno.”

Municipal Planning

San Francisco is the newest large urban area targeted by the federal effort of mass immigration arrests. The mission is likely to cause a showdown between the federal government and local leaders who have committed to block paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for weeks for Trump to fulfill repeated threats to dispatch personnel to the city. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, San Francisco’s city leader emphasized that the city was ready.

“Over recent weeks, we have been preparing for the chance of an impending national intervention in our city,” stated the official, noting that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “strengthen the city’s support for our immigrant communities, and make certain our departments are organized prior to any government operation.”

Constitutional Framework

Regardless of judicial disputes to missions in a number of cities, including Chicago, Portland and Southern California, Trump has claimed “absolute authority” to send the national guard in cities, citing the Insurrection Act which permits presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on American territory.

Community Reaction

The governor, who previously served as San Francisco’s city leader – had committed to step in “immediately” to a operation in the city. “The idea that the White House can deploy troops into our cities with no valid reason grounded in reality, no oversight, no accountability, disregard for local authority – it’s a direct assault on the judicial framework,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including social justice nonprofits created during the previous presidential term, have organized to quickly mobilize a mass rally in the city, as well as candlelight gatherings at local libraries.

Neighborhood Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, a predominantly Latino population, elected official informed journalists last week she and her constituents had been anticipating this time. “The point that employees avoid workplaces, when anyone Black or brown can’t freely walk outside without the concern of Trump’s federal agents racially profiling and detaining them, the point when parents stop sending kids to school, become too afraid to go to the grocery store or physician,” she said. “Our ongoing preparations in the Mission is essentially a halt the extent of which we have not witnessed since the health crisis.”

State Troops Status

Approximately 300 out of four thousand regional military personnel continue under national command under an command from Trump. Roughly two hundred of them had been sent to the neighboring state, where they were remaining in uncertainty in the midst of a court case over their mission.

This time, Newsom said he had requested the state military personnel under his authority to operate food banks amid the administrative stoppage.