The troop surge may not come to San Francisco, but the city is ready anyway
After months With US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Guard stationed across American cities, federal agents are preparing to descend on San Francisco.
Local resistance groups have coordinated with activists in other cities across the country that have been cordoned off by federal law enforcement. Coordinating through Signal group chats, Zoom calls and social media posts, thousands of volunteers planned demonstrations and spread the word that federal troops were on their way to San Francisco. Even if they aren’t – yet.
On Thursday morning, SF Mayor Daniel Lowery posted on Instagram and X announcing that he had spoken with President Donald Trump and convinced him to call in federal agents who were planning to descend on San Francisco this Saturday. Trump confirmed shortly after on Truth Social, writing, “Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff and others have called and said the future of San Francisco is great. Therefore, we will not increase San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”
San Francisco activists and residents aren’t exactly convinced, and so the organizing continues.
earlier this week, A group of about 100 federal law enforcement agents converged on Coast Guard Island, a small base in Alameda just across the bay from San Francisco that federal officials say is being used as a staging area for future immigration raids. Only one road leads to and from the island, and as soon as word of the settlement spreads, agents are quickly herded into the boxes. About 200 protesters showed up on Thursday morning to disrupt their movements, leading to clashes.
On Wednesday night, a group called Khaleej Resistance held an educational webinar that drew a large turnout. Due to the group’s Zoom subscription limits, the call had to be limited to 5,000 people. After that, hundreds more people viewed a recording.
Emily Lee, one of the organizers of the Gulf resistance, told Basij: “The Gulf is not going to sit quietly. “We will definitely stand together against this government.”
During the call, organizers spoke in English with Spanish translation and shared plans for future actions across the Bay Area. They talked about lessons learned from their direct interactions with organizers in Los Angeles mobilizing against ICE raids and the deployment of federal troops there, and the importance of confronting Portland protesters, who relied on humor and inflatables to counter ICE actions and protest Trump’s claim that the city was “torn by war.”
