SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Trump administration is sending more than 100 federal agents to San Francisco, KRON4.com has learned. The news, which was first reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, was confirmed by KRON4 network partner, NewsNation.
According to a NewsNation source, the agents could arrive as early as Thursday. The contingent of federal officers includes members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
They have been dispatched to Coast Guard Island in Alameda, according to NewsNation’s sources. The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
KRON4 News reached out to the United States Coast Guard and received the following statement from a spokesperson:
“The U.S. Coast Guard is providing facility support to Customs & Border Protection as requested, in a supporting role. The Coast Guard is focused on ensuring safe and secure operations in support of federal partners. All questions about the operation should be directed to CBP, the lead agency.”
“At this time, I have not received any report of ICE agents being sent to Base Alameda,” they added.
The City of Alameda released a statement Wednesday saying that the Alameda Police Department is not part of the operation and does not enforce federal immigration laws.
The deployment follows weeks of President Donald Trump ratcheting up the rhetoric around sending the National Guard to San Francisco, which currently ranks 26th nationally in violent crime. Trump raised the prospect of federal intervention in SF in a White House news conference last week.
Over the weekend, the president doubled down, telling Fox News, “We’re going to San Francisco next.” During the Fox segment, Trump hinted that he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to the city.
On Monday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the department would be going into San Francisco “at the direction of the president.”
San Francisco city leaders, including Mayor Daniel Lurie and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, along with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have been adamant that federal troops are neither wanted, nor needed in the City by the Bay.
“Sending troops to San Francisco?” Gov. Newsom tweeted. “Do it and we’ll sue.”
“Our city attorney is equipped to take necessary legal action,” Mayor Lurie reiterated during a public announcement Wednesday.
“Sending the military will not help our city or our country,” he added.
KRON4 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and received the following statement:
“As the Secretary said on Monday, DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens—including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists—in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco. As it does every day, DHS law enforcement will enforce the laws of our nation.”
