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The White House was preparing on Wednesday to deploy scores of federal agents to the Bay Area region for a large-scale border security initiative, prompting criticism from state officials.

Information of the Deployment

Details of the mission were gradually becoming clear, but it will reportedly involve approximately 100+ government officers, according to reports. The personnel are expected to begin using the Coast Guard facility in the East Bay, facing San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would participate.

Official Reaction

The mission is the result of an extended period of warnings by the president to take action against the Democratic-run city. The state's leader Gavin Newsom condemned the action, describing it as “straight from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He sends out masked men, he dispatches Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates worry and terror in the community so that he can take credit for addressing that by sending in the national guard,” Newsom said. “This is no different than the firestarter fighting the blaze.”

City Readiness

San Francisco is the newest metropolitan center focused on by Donald Trump’s campaign of widespread apprehensions. The operation is expected to trigger a standoff between the White House and municipal authorities who have vowed to block paramilitary operations in the city.

San Franciscans have been readying for an extended period for Trump to make good on repeated threats to deploy forces to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s mayor reiterated that the city was equipped.

“For months, we have been expecting the possibility of an impending national intervention in our city,” said the mayor, adding that he had taken further executive actions on Wednesday to “enhance the city’s assistance to our foreign-born residents, and make certain our offices are coordinated ahead of any government operation.”

Judicial Background

Regardless of judicial disputes to operations in a multiple urban areas, including Illinois, Oregon and Los Angeles, Trump has asserted “complete control” to dispatch the military forces in cities, referencing the Insurrection Act which allows presidents specific authority to deploy troops on domestic land.

Public Reaction

Newsom, who was formerly as San Francisco’s mayor – had committed to take action “without delay” to a operation in the city. “The concept that the White House can send forces into our cities with no justification based on facts, no monitoring, no accountability, no consideration of regional control – it represents an infringement on the rule of law,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including civil rights groups established during the first Trump administration, have prepped to swiftly gather a large protest in the city, as well as peaceful assemblies at public spaces.

Local Impact

In San Francisco’s Mission district, a largely Hispanic neighborhood, elected official told reporters last week she and her constituents had been anticipating this situation. “The moment that workers cease employment, when people of color can’t freely walk outside without the concern of Trump’s federal agents discriminating against and arresting them, the point when families keep children home, grow too frightened to go to the grocery store or medical provider,” she said. “Our ongoing preparations in the Mission is basically a closure the likes of which we haven’t seen since Covid.”

National Guard Condition

Approximately 300 out of four thousand regional military personnel continue under national command under an order from Trump. About 200 of them had been transferred to Oregon, where they were staying in standby during a court case over their deployment.

This week, Newsom said he had called the local soldiers under his authority to manage charity kitchens amid the federal closure.