23 Oct At San Francisco Rally, Fears of Federal Deployment Around the Bay Area Remain

Protesters rally in front of San Francisco City Hall on Thursday against the potential deployment of federal troops to the Bay Area. (Alise Maripuu / Bay City News)

By Alise Maripuu
Bay City News

Hundreds of protesters, labor leaders, and immigrant advocates rallied on the steps of San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, just a few hours after President Donald Trump announced he was canceling plans to send federal troops to the city.

Despite Trump confirming in a phone call with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday night that he was calling off the deployment to the city, uncertainty remains on whether the rest of the Bay Area will be spared from a potential federal “surge.”

Trump last week had called for the National Guard and federal agents to go to San Francisco. Along with increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity nationwide since he took office, the president has sent National Guard troops from various states to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

“We have to be careful because we do not trust this administration,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton at the rally.

Protesters chanted slogans like “An injury to one is an injury to all” while holding up signs that read “No ICE troops in the Bay” and “We keep us safe.” Speeches were muddled under the frequent honking of cars driving past City Hall.

Several speakers were suspicious of the deployment cancellation, since federal officials have not explicitly confirmed if the rest of the Bay Area is off the table in addition to San Francisco.

Supervisor Jackie Fielder also warned the crowd that it was not clear if operations for all federal agencies have been canceled.

“We don’t know which federal agencies are being called off,” said Fielder. “We don’t know if that’s the National Guard. We don’t know if it’s ICE, if it’s Border Patrol.”

When asked if there are still plans to send federal agents to other Bay Area cities, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declined to comment. DHS instead referred to Trump’s statement earlier Thursday on his social media site Truth Social, which only mentioned canceling a deployment to San Francisco.

“The Federal Government was preparing to ‘surge’ San Francisco, California, on Saturday, but friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”

Inside City Hall, Lurie addressed the public in a speech discussing the call with Trump.

“The president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal surge in San Francisco,” Lurie said. “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.”

When asked if Trump mentioned anything about a plan to send federal troops to other Bay Area cities, Lurie said he cannot confirm nor deny any potential federal agent activity in the rest of the region.

“I was told the surge was being called off, and he only spoke about San Francisco prior,” Lurie said.

Although Lurie repeated that he does not want federal troops to march through the streets of San Francisco, he did say he’d be open to federal support in helping tackle the selling of fentanyl and other drugs in the city.

“I also spoke this morning to Attorney General Pam Bondi,” he said. “She echoed her willingness to partner with our local law enforcement to combat fentanyl and hold drug traffickers accountable.”

Speakers also used the rally outside City Hall as an opportunity to inform the public and immigrant communities on what to do in the event that they are detained by a federal agent.

Immigrant rights advocates and several supervisors mentioned how immigrants should have their documentation and personal identifying information in an accessible place.

They also pointed to the importance of having on hand the hotline for local rapid response networks, which vary according to region or county. Rapid response networks are resources designated for helping protect the rights of immigrants.

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