McLaughlin: ICE agents could soon be heading to San Francisco
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents may soon head to San Francisco, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday.
“There will be no safe haven in the United States, whether it’s in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, or San Francisco,” McLaughlin said in an interview with NewsNation’s “The Hill” program.
“We have ICE officers on the ground in San Francisco,” she said. “This is not a change in position.”
McLaughlin added that a “heavy presence” can be expected in San Francisco “and in any of these sanctuary cities.”
When asked about ICE operations in the Bay Area city, she said she “can’t get very far in ICE operations or… [President Trump]McLaughlin added that California Governor Gavin Newsom “has to be very careful during the election.”
“In Los Angeles and San Francisco, a lot of these citizens are unhappy with his rule, whether it’s because of the wildfires or the crime that we’re seeing outside of San Francisco,” McLaughlin said.
On Wednesday night, Newsom said he would sue the Trump administration if it sent federal agents to San Francisco. The Trump administration has already announced that it will send 100 agents from US Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard base in Alameda.
“We’re going to be aggressive, and we’re going to be focused on our response,” Newsom said at a news conference. “Quite literally, this is the lawsuit I would file within a millisecond of any effort to send the military into one of America’s greatest cities, San Francisco.”
Immigration officers are expected to arrive Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Trump announced over the weekend that he was sending federal officials to San Francisco “and we’re going to make it great,” he told Fox News.
State officials have worked to reduce the city’s crime rate, specifically by calling in the California Highway Patrol to intervene, including in the broader San Francisco Bay Area.
“Violent crime in San Francisco has dropped to levels not seen since the 1950s. Encampments have reached record levels. San Francisco is turning a corner — thanks to public safety,” Mayor Daniel Lurie (D) said in a statement on the social media platform X.
