By Steve Neavling
CBP agents are preparing for an immigration enforcement operation in the San Francisco Bay Area beginning Wednesday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and several officials familiar with the plan, The New York Times reports.
Agents are expected to stage at the Coast Guard base in Alameda, near Oakland. The Coast Guard confirmed its property will serve as a base for the Department of Homeland Security, saying in a statement that the agencies were using “a whole-of-government approach” to “detect, deter and interdict illegal aliens, narco-terrorists and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border.”
President Trump has repeatedly vowed to send federal forces to San Francisco.
“San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world,” he said Sunday on Fox News. “And then 15 years ago it went wrong, it went woke.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the administration of creating a pretext for a military deployment.
“It’s absolutely predictable,” he said Wednesday in Stockton. “It’s a script that’s been written for centuries, the authoritarian playbook.”
In a joint statement, Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Kevin Mullin said local authorities could arrest federal agents who violate state law.
“While the president may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not,” they said.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city would remain a sanctuary city and was preparing to respond to potential raids by coordinating with local departments and immigrant advocacy groups.
