Newsom calls move ‘right out of the dictator’s handbook’ as agents prepare for key immigration enforcement operation
The Trump administration appeared poised on Wednesday to send dozens of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a major immigration enforcement operation, prompting condemnation from California leaders.
Details of the deployment were still emerging, but it will reportedly involve more than 100 federal agents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The agents are reportedly set to begin using the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city located across the bay from San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would also be involved.
The deployment follows weeks of threats by Donald Trump to target the Democratic-run city. California’s governor Gavin Newsom criticised the move, calling it “right out of the dictator’s handbook”.
“He sends out masked men, he sends out Border Patrol, he sends out ICE, he creates anxiety and fear in the community so that he can lay claim to solving for that by sending in the [national] guard,” Newsom said in a video statement. “This is no different than the arsonist putting out the fire.”
