WASHINGTON/OAKLAND (Reuters) -Donald Trump will not deploy federal agents to San Francisco, the U.S. president and the California city’s mayor said in separate social media posts on Thursday, a surprising stand-down as Trump pressures Democratic-led cities around the country to step up enforcement against crime and illegal immigration.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, a Democrat, said in a post on X that Trump called him Wednesday night to tell him he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment. Lurie said the city would continue to partner with federal agencies to combat drug crime, but that “militarized immigration enforcement” would not help.
“We appreciate that the president understands that we are the global hub for technology, and when San Francisco is strong, our country is strong,” Lurie said.
Trump confirmed the agreement in a post on Truth Social, saying the federal government had been preparing a surge in San Francisco but would cancel it.
“I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around,” Trump said. “The people of San Francisco have come together on fighting Crime, especially since we began to take charge of that very nasty subject.”
The Republican president said two major tech executives – Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff – had called him “saying that the future of San Francisco is great.”
Trump had indicated San Francisco would be a next stop for National Guard troops he was sending to various U.S. Democratic-led cities, moves that have been challenged in courts.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration would send more than 100 federal agents to the city to ramp up immigration enforcement.
BORDER PATROL AGENTS FACE PROTESTS
Despite the apparent stand-down, a handful of U.S. Border Patrol vehicles arrived at a U.S. Coast Guard base in the Bay Area on Thursday morning and were met with several hundred protesters.
Demonstrators carried signs reading “Stop the Kidnappings” and “Protect Our Neighbors,” with one protester smacking the window of a truck as it passed by. Federal agents eventually used less-lethal rounds to disperse the crowd, with protesters saying one person was injured by a projectile and that another had their foot run over.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, the former member of Congress and civil rights activist, said in televised remarks that a federal deployment would divide and intimidate.
“We will not allow outsiders to create chaos or exploit our city,” said Lee, a Democrat.
Trump aims to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, portraying them as criminals and a drain on U.S. communities. Democrats in major U.S. cities have criticized the crackdown, saying it has terrorized law-abiding residents, separated families and hurt businesses.
Trump has long highlighted what he views as rampant crime in San Francisco and had signaled in recent weeks that he would send federal agents there.
“We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Nathan Frandino in Oakland; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Peter Henderson and Max Cherney in San Francisco; Writing by Ted Hesson; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Diane Craft)
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