By TERRY CHEA and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press
ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s backing off a planned surge of federal agents into San Francisco after speaking to the mayor, as protesters gathered outside a U.S. Coast Guard base where they were located.
Trump posted on social media that Mayor Daniel Lurie told him Wednesday night that the city was making progress in reducing crime. Trump said he agreed to let San Francisco keep trying on its own.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began arriving Thursday at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California, to support federal efforts to track down immigrants in the country illegally. Several hundred people, many singing hymns and carrying signs saying “No ICE or troops in the Bay,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, gathered at the base shortly after dawn.
Police used at least one flash-bang grenade to clear a handful of demonstrators from the entrance as CBP vehicles drove through. Organizers urged protesters to remain peaceful, as a line of Coast Guard officers in helmets watched from just outside the entrance.
Lurie said Thursday morning he received a phone call from Trump Wednesday night in which the president told him he was “calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco.” Lurie said in a statement that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “reaffirmed that direction” in a conversation Thursday morning.
It was not clear if the president was canceling a National Guard deployment or calling off immigration enforcement by CBP agents. Lurie’s office did not respond to requests for clarification. Lurie planned a noon news conference to discuss the situation further.
After the president’s announcement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said on X: “Trump has finally, for once, listened to reason — and heard what we have been saying from the beginning. The Bay Area is a shining example of what makes California so special, and any attempt to erode our progress would damage the work we’ve done.”
The San Francisco Chronicle, citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the operation, reported Wednesday that more than 100 CBP and other federal agents would arrive this week. Lurie and Newsom, both Democrats, condemned the move, saying it was meant to provoke violent protests.
Trump has repeatedly said he plans to deploy National Guard troops to San Francisco to quell crime, but his administration hasn’t offered a timeline for doing so. His assertions of out-of-control crime in the city of roughly 830,000 have baffled local and state leaders, who point to statistics showing that many crimes are at record lows.
Trump has deployed the Guard to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, to help fight what he says is rampant crime. Los Angeles was the first city where Trump deployed the Guard, arguing it was necessary to protect federal buildings and agents as protesters fought back against mass immigration arrests.
He has also said they are needed in Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Lawsuits from Democratic officials in both cities have so far blocked troops from going out on city streets.
Coast Guard Island is an artificial island formed in 1913, and the Coast Guard first established a base there in 1926. The island is owned by the federal government and is not open to the general public, so escorts or specific government ID cards are required for visitors. The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which also houses ICE and CBP.
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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed.