For months, Mayor Daniel Lurie has avoided any verbal confrontation with President Donald Trump.
That changed on Wednesday after news broke of an impending federal immigration operation in the Bay Area, pushing Lurie to make his most forceful remarks about federal government overreach since taking office in January.
“This doesn’t make our city safer, it terrorizes our communities,” said Lurie, who was flanked by a wide array of local officials during a livestreamed speech just after 2 p.m.
Lurie said his administration has been planning for the possibility of federal intervention for months, and that he has signed an executive directive that “will make sure that our communities get the resources and the accurate information they need from our local government and our partners like the Rapid Response Network,” referring to the local community group that monitors immigration enforcement.
The city has also activated its Department of Emergency Management to coordinate across departments, including the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.
“This federal administration wants to divide us, but we know San Francisco is strongest when we come together to stand up for each other and our values,” Lurie said. “San Francisco will never stand by as our neighbors are targeted, and neither will I. I’ve got your back. Let’s have each other’s back and keep our city safe.”
Still, Lurie refrained from directly saying the president’s name, a similar tactic he’s followed during public remarks about immigration and other federal issues.
Lurie’s announcement comes as the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Wednesday that an “unknown” number of Customs and Border Protection agents will arrive on Coast Guard Island in the Oakland Estuary on Thursday.
How or when the agents would arrive in San Francisco wasn't immediately apparent. Lurie said that his administration is in the dark about what exactly the federal government is planning in San Francisco and across the Bay Area.
But he positioned the surge of federal border agents as the first step in a potential deployment of military forces.
“In cities across the country, masked immigration officials are deployed to use aggressive enforcement tactics to instill fear so people don’t feel safe to go about their daily lives,” Lurie said. “These tactics are designed to incite backlash, chaos and violence, which are then used as an excuse to deploy military personnel. They are intentionally creating a dangerous situation in the name of public safety.”
Local and state officials have already said they will challenge any federal intervention against San Francisco and California. On Tuesday, City Attorney David Chiu said he would sue if the president sent the National Guard into the city.
Among the officials standing alongside Lurie on Wednesday were Chiu, San Francisco Deputy Police Chief Derrick Lew, Fire Chief Dean Crispen, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, and Supervisors Bilal Mahmood, Connie Chan, Rafael Mandelman, and Stephen Sherrill.
During his remarks, Lurie mentioned the progress his administration has made on issues like homelessness and crime in what appeared to be an attempt to counter negative comments that the president has made about Democratic-run cities like San Francisco and Chicago.
“From our police chief and our sheriff to our district attorney and our Board of Supervisors, our city leaders have been united in making public safety our No. 1 priority, and we’ve made real progress,” said Lurie, who cited statistics about falling crime and reduced homeless encampments.