Trump Targets San Francisco With Immigration Raids, National Guard on Standby
The Trump administration has zeroed in on San Francisco as the next battleground in its expanding effort to crack down on illegal immigration and restore law and order in sanctuary cities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are preparing operations in San Francisco, which has long refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement under its “sanctuary city” laws.
“We’re Going to San Francisco,” Says Noem
“We continue to have targeted operations in many, many cities, but also very focused on those where challenges are still remaining, such as Portland, Chicago, we’re in Memphis as well, we’re going to San Francisco at the direction of the president as well,” Noem said at a press conference in Sarasota, Florida.
She emphasized that enforcement actions won’t be limited to cities making national headlines. “We’re going to continue to make sure we’re focused not just on those cities that we hear about on the news, but also in cities like Sarasota, that we make sure that law enforcement officers in every single community get the chance to continue to get these criminals off of their streets.”
Trump: “We’re Going to Make San Francisco Great Again”
President Donald Trump, speaking Sunday on Fox News, made it clear that San Francisco’s decline under leftist leadership would not go unaddressed.
“San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world, and then 15 years ago it went wrong, it went woke,” Trump said. “We’re going to San Francisco and we’re going to make it great.”
He also confirmed that he plans to deploy National Guard troops to San Francisco in coordination with ICE raids. Similar deployments to Portland and Chicago have been tied up in legal battles, but a successful National Guard mission to Los Angeles earlier this year set the precedent for more aggressive federal action.
That mission saw the National Guard and Marines suppress violent anti-ICE riots in downtown LA, where agitators launched concrete blocks at federal agents, set cars on fire, and shut down major traffic arteries.
Newsom Claps Back, Trump Stays the Course
California Governor Gavin Newsom took to X (formerly Twitter) to blast Trump’s plan. “Nobody wants you here. You will ruin one of America’s greatest cities,” he wrote.
But critics argue that Newsom and local San Francisco leaders already did that. The once-iconic city has been plagued by open-air drug markets, violent crime, homelessness, and lawlessness fueled by lax enforcement and pro-criminal policies.
Sanctuary City Laws Under Fire
San Francisco’s status as a sanctuary city dates back to 1989, when it passed the “City and County of Refuge” Ordinance. This policy blocks local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE, even when violent illegal immigrant offenders are in custody.
Trump has repeatedly condemned such laws, calling them a magnet for criminal aliens and a threat to national security. By directing ICE and the National Guard to bypass local resistance, the Trump administration hopes to send a message to sanctuary cities nationwide: cooperation is not optional.
Secretary Noem’s remarks suggest more cities could be added to the list as Trump’s broader law-and-order push ramps up heading into winter. For San Francisco, that means federal law enforcement is coming — and staying until the streets are safe again.