‘An appalling abuse of law enforcement power,’ said California Democrats of Trump troops in SF
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bay Area lawmakers call federal immigration raids an unlawful abuse of power
- Officials warn deployment will inflame tensions and risk clashes with protesters
- California leaders propose legal accountability and tracking of ICE conduct and masks
President Donald Trump’s idea to amass federal immigration enforcement agents in the San Francisco Bay Area--a decision he cancelled Thursday--was derided by state and local congressional Democrats as another ugly example of what they called the president’s potential abuse of power.
Immigration raids had reportedly been set to begin Thursday, but Trump called them off. He said on Truth Social he spoke with Mayor Daniel Lurie and “he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around.”
Local officials had urged Trump not to send the troops, and on Capitol Hill, area lawmakers agreed.
“Reports of a planned mass immigration raid in the Bay Area are an appalling abuse of law enforcement power. Broad sweeps that target families and terrorize law-abiding residents betray our nation’s values and waste resources that should focus on real threats to public safety,” Reps. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, said in a joint statement Thursday.
They noted that California law protects communities and prevents federal agents from “taking certain actions here that we have witnessed in other states.”
After Trump’s Thursday announcement, Pelosi praised Lurie.
“In his handling of a potential federal deployment in our city that resulted in the president calling off the operation, Mayor Lurie has underscored that public safety must be driven by local priorities, respectful of our values and communities,” she said..
Deployment “will not make the city safer”
The state’s Democratic senators joined their party’s colleagues in raising serious questions about the use of troops now.
“Donald Trump’s deployment of federal agents to San Francisco will not make the city safer or improve the quality of life for residents. It will only serve to inflame tensions, which is tragically what the president seeks,: charged Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in a posting on X.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., insisted San Francisco residents were aghast at Trump’s tactics.
“San Francisco won’t cower to a president who uses our troops for political retribution,” he said in a video.
Padilla, the son of immigrants from Mexico, has for months been urging immigration agents to be more transparent, to drop any masks and to be less secretive.
When he attempted to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about administration policy during her press conference in June, he was forcefully led away and handcuffed.
Schiff has railed against what he says is Trump’s authoritarianism. Wednesday, he spoke on the Senate floor, outlining what he said were 10 examples bolstering his point.
Schiff said the lawmakers ”ought to be sounding a three-alarm fire for the American people.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Roseville, did not have details of Trump’s decision to hold off. But, Kiley noted, Gov. Gavin Newsom has sent national Guard personnel and other help to San Francisco, including in 2023, when he authorized the National Guard to the city to help other agencies deal with the fentanyl crisis.
“Even the governor recognizes there are issues connected to public safety,” Kiley said.
State lawmakers react
Legislators representing San Francisco, and the East Bay area, where federal personnel are reportedly staging, also issued statements Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
“To distract from his unpopular and harmful shutdown, Donald Trump is reportedly bringing his authoritarian theatrics to the Bay Area,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, whose district includes Coast Guard Base Alameda.
“It is against our values as Alamedans to have our city used as a staging ground to inflict fear, terror, and state-sponsored violence across the Bay.”
If the operation does unfold in San Francisco, it will be a test of the state’s new mask ban for law enforcement. Federal officials have said they will not comply with the ban.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, authored the bill and was a driving force behind it. He posted “ICE & Border Patrol & their ski masks aren’t welcome in San Francisco. Full stop,” on X on Wednesday.
Thursday morning he added: “If Trump deploys the military in San Francisco, it’ll have absolutely nothing to do with crime & public safety — crime is down here — & everything to do with control & punishment of perceived enemies.”
Congressional Democrats want further action
Other California members of Congress are taking steps to hold immigration officials more accountable.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, is heading an effort to track questionable behavior by ICE agents. Called a “Master ICE Tracker,” it will be available in the next few weeks on the House Oversight Committee website.
“Republicans are putting American citizens at risk by refusing to lift a finger to hold the Trump administration accountable,” said Garcia, top Democrat on the committee.
Added Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat representing a Silicon Valley district, writing on Facebook, “We need standards of conduct for ICE agents to ensure agents cannot trample on civil and constitutional rights. No more masked ICE raids and driving unmarked vehicles.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has pushed back.
‘“Shutdown Democrats are already refusing to pay our law enforcement agents. Now, @RepRobertGarcia and @SenBlumenthal are trying to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs,” Bondi said on X. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is helping lead the effort to hold ICE agents more accountable.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 9:43 AM with the headline "‘An appalling abuse of law enforcement power,’ said California Democrats of Trump troops in SF."
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