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The federal government appeared poised on Wednesday to send dozens of law enforcement personnel to the northern California for a large-scale crackdown on immigration, sparking outrage from local politicians.

Information of the Mission

Details of the mission were continuing to unfold, but it will allegedly feature more than 100 government officers, as reported. The officers are reportedly set to begin occupying the US Coast Guard base in the East Bay, facing San Francisco. It remained unclear whether state soldiers would join the operation.

Government Backlash

The operation is the result of weeks of warnings by the president to target the Democratic-run city. California’s governor Gavin Newsom criticized the action, describing it as “taken directly from the authoritarian playbook”.

“He deploys masked men, he dispatches border agents, he dispatches federal agents, he generates worry and terror in the community so that he can claim credit for addressing that by dispatching the state troops,” the governor stated. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the blaze.”

Municipal Readiness

San Francisco is the most recent major city singled out by the federal effort of mass immigration arrests. The operation is likely to cause a showdown between the administration and municipal authorities who have vowed to stop militarized immigration enforcement in the city.

San Franciscans have been gearing up for months for Trump to fulfill frequent statements to dispatch personnel to the city. At a Wednesday media briefing, San Francisco’s mayor stated again that the city was equipped.

“During this period, we have been anticipating the possibility of a potential federal deployment in our city,” stated the official, adding that he had enacted new policies on Wednesday to “strengthen the city’s protection of our newcomer populations, and ensure our departments are prepared ahead of any federal deployment.”

Legal Context

In spite of judicial disputes to operations in a several municipalities, including the Windy City, the Pacific Northwest and LA, Trump has asserted “unquestioned power” to send the national guard in cities, pointing to the federal statute which allows presidents limited power to dispatch personnel on US soil.

Public Preparation

Newsom, who once held office as San Francisco’s chief executive – had pledged to intervene “immediately” to a operation in the city. “The concept that the White House can deploy troops into our cities with no justification grounded in reality, no supervision, no accountability, disregard for regional control – it constitutes an attack on the legal system,” he said on Wednesday.

Public associations, including social justice nonprofits created during the previous presidential term, have prepped to rapidly assemble a public demonstration in the city, as well as vigils at public spaces.

Neighborhood Effect

In San Francisco’s Mission area, a predominantly Latino population, local representative told reporters last week she and her voters had been anticipating this situation. “The time that people stop going to work, when anyone Black or brown cannot move about freely without the apprehension of government officers discriminating against and detaining them, the point when students avoid classrooms, are too scared to go to the grocery store or doctor,” she said. “What we have been preparing for in the Mission is fundamentally a shutdown the extent of which we have not experienced since the health crisis.”

National Guard Situation

Approximately three hundred out of 4,000 California military personnel continue under national command under an order from Trump. About two hundred of them had been dispatched to the Pacific Northwest, where they were waiting in limbo amid a court case over their deployment.

This week, Newsom said he had summoned the local soldiers under his authority to operate charity kitchens throughout the government shutdown.