San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The Trump administration has dispatched more than 100 federal agents, including from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to Coast Guard Base Alameda and they will begin to arrive Thursday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and a source familiar with the operation.

The surge of federal agents was seen as a likely precursor to President Donald Trump deploying National Guard troops to San Francisco. In other cities around the nation, the administration has increased immigration enforcement and responded to the ensuing protests with the National Guard.

The move appears to be the latest in a series of immigration crackdowns on Democratic cities around the country, which have raised fear and anxiety among undocumented immigrants and those close to them. In previous immigration actions, officials have said they are targeting the worst of the worst criminals, though many others have been swept up in the operations.

The news sets the stage for a showdown between the Trump administration and Bay Area leaders, who have said the city does not need federal intervention and have vowed to sue to block any National Guard deployment. Trump has repeatedly threatened to deploy troops to San Francisco. On Sunday, he told Fox News: “We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great. It’ll be great again.”

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, in his most forceful comments yet on Trump, condemned the impending federal action.

“In cities across the country, masked immigration officials are deployed to use aggressive enforcement tactics that instill fear so people don’t feel safe going about their daily life,” Lurie said at a virtual press conference. “These tactics are designed to incite backlash, chaos and violence, which are then used as an excuse to deploy military personnel. They are intentionally creating a dangerous situation in the name of public safety.”

Both Lurie and Gov. Gavin Newsom urged people not to be baited into violence.

“President Trump and Stephen Miller’s authoritarian playbook is coming for another of our cities, and violence and vandalism are exactly what they’re looking for to invoke chaos,” Newsom wrote in a social media post. “Help keep yourself and your communities safe. Remain peaceful.”

The Chronicle first reported on CBP sending the agents to the Bay Area, based on a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. A Coast Guard spokesperson later confirmed its Alameda base, which is located in the estuary between Alameda and Oakland, was preparing as of Wednesday to act as a “place of operations” for CBP agents. [Continue reading…]