President Donald Trump this week appeared to double down on sending the National Guard to San Francisco. But could that mean troop deployments to other parts of the Bay Area?
Officials across the region, including in San Jose, Oakland, Concord and Berkeley, said they’ve received no indication of the military’s imminent arrival in their jurisdictions.
As Trump mobilizes troops to Democratic cities across the country in what he says is an effort to fight crime, Bay Area officials made clear they believe local law enforcement is up to the task of keeping residents safe.
“Our police department is incredibly effective because they know and are part of the community they serve,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. “Our residents trust them — and trust is the foundation of safety here in San Jose.”
Meanwhile, officials in Santa Clara, which will host Super Bowl LX in February and the World Cup next summer, declined to say whether they had been in contact with the federal government about a potential deployment. The city “would never confirm or deny advance notice of potential enforcement activities by other agencies, as this is outside our jurisdiction,” Santa Clara Police Lt. Eric Lagergren said in a statement.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson did not answer whether the Trump administration is actively considering sending the National Guard to additional Bay Area cities. However, she said in a statement that “Making America Safe Again — especially crime-ridden cities — was a key campaign promise from the President that the American people elected him to fulfill.”
Crime rates have been declining across most of the Bay Area after the region saw spikes in burglaries and violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Larry Gerston, professor emeritus of public policy and politics at San Jose State University, said the Trump administration has intentionally kept Democratic state and local officials in the dark ahead of recent deployments and would likely continue to do so going forward.
“The idea of his extending a hand to governors and mayors is out of the question, as far as he’s concerned,” he said.
Outside of San Francisco and Oakland, the latter Trump singled out earlier this year for a potential National Guard deployment, Gerston doesn’t expect the administration to target other local cities. But he said no city should assume seeing troops patrolling local streets is out of the question, adding that the more local officials speak out against the president, the more likely they are to be targeted.
Oakland officials said they are preparing for a potential deployment by “providing swift, clear, accurate information and updates to the community” and coordinating with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who sued the Trump administration to halt troop deployments in Los Angeles after protests against federal immigration officials in June.
Meanwhile, Concord, home to a federal immigration courthouse that has been the site of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainments in recent months, said that since the city had received no indication about a potential deployment, it has not made specific preparations “beyond continuing to monitor the situation.”
San Jose and Berkeley did not answer whether they had taken steps to prepare for a possible military deployment.
Newsom’s office declined to offer any additional information about possible troop deployments beyond what it has already shared publicly. On Tuesday, the governor said he would sue the administration if it deployed troops to San Francisco, calling such a move a direct assault on the rule of law.
The California National Guard referred questions to the Pentagon, which declined to comment.
Already, the Trump administration has sent the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and authorized troops to be sent to Chicago and Portland. While Trump maintains the deployments are to rescue those cities from out-of-control crime, the administration has argued in court filings that troops are needed to protect federal buildings and support ICE in its deportation crackdown.
Officials in those cities have largely condemned Trump’s moves, describing them as wholly unnecessary and blaming them for inflaming tensions with protesters and residents. Judges have, for now, blocked troops from entering Chicago and Portland and ruled their presence in Los Angeles unconstitutional. Still, it will likely be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately determine the legality of the deployments.
The National Guard has also been activated in Memphis. However, unlike deployments in other cities, troops there are under the command of Tennessee’s Republican governor and not Trump.
Last week, Trump floated sending federal troops into San Francisco and reiterated his plans on Sunday during a segment on Fox News. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie responded Monday that while he would welcome more cooperation with federal agencies to combat the drug trade, “the National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers,” adding that sending troops would “do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer.”
Oakland has been preparing for the potential arrival of the National Guard since August, when Trump first mentioned dispatching troops to the city. Earlier this month, the self-declared “sanctuary city” took steps to defend its employees against criminal charges in the event they are accused of obstructing federal immigration authorities or National Guard troops.
Mayor Barbara Lee, a former congresswoman who has frequently described Trump as a threat to democracy, has criticized the president’s proposal to send the military to fight crime in Oakland as “not grounded in facts, but in fear-mongering.”
Meanwhile, Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security, said this month that federal immigration officers would be “all over” the Super Bowl at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium after the announcement that Latin music star Bad Bunny would perform at the halftime show during the February event.
While federal officials have made no mention of sending troops there, Gerston, the political science professor, said the game could draw Trump’s attention, noting the president often views large events as a “potential source of violence.”
“That’s a huge leap,” Greston said, “but that’s the leap he’s been making.”