Trump cites crime as his reason, but San Francisco hasn’t seen the same federal immigration enforcement as other cities.
President Donald Trump keeps threatening to send National Guard troops to San Francisco next, blasting the California city as crime-ridden and saying its residents are clamoring for federal help.
But local and state leaders say that couldn’t be farther from the truth, noting overall crime is down and the city has started to turn around its downtrodden pandemic image. Residents and workers out downtown this week said they’re puzzled and concerned by Trump’s threat.
“This is a safe American city,” Mayor Daniel Lurie told The Associated Press last week. “We got this in San Francisco.”
The Republican president has referenced crime as his justification for possibly sending troops to the city of roughly 830,000. He’s deployed the Guard over crime concerns to Washington, D.C., where he has direct control of the National Guard, and Memphis, where the Republican governor supports their presence. 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’s since said they’re needed in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as well.
Residents and leaders in Portland were surprised by Trump’s attention when he described the city as besieged by violent protests. In reality, nightly protests were small and limited to the area outside a federal immigration building. While there were some arrests for violence, the demonstrations were far less intense than those that roiled the downtown in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
In San Francisco, too, Trump seems to be relying on an outdated picture of a city often targeted by conservatives.
“The difference is, I think they want us in San Francisco,” Trump said Sunday on Fox News. “San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world.
