Federal agents arrive near San Francisco despite National Guard call-off

By Madeline Shannon
The Center Square

Despite President Donald Trump calling off an impending National Guard deployment to San Francisco, federal agents arrived Thursday at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, on the west side of San Francisco Bay.

Trump said during a press conference at the White House on Thursday that he made the decision to call off the deployment after he spoke with business leaders in the city.

“They said ‘We’re working really really hard with the mayor, and we’re making progress. Would it be possible for you to hold off the surge?’” Trump said. “They’re doing a good job, so we are holding off that surge, everybody, and we’re going to let them see if they can do it.”

Trump added he thought his effort to suppress crime could be faster than a local effort.

“We can take criminals out they’re not going to know about, and maybe they don’t have the legal authority to do what we can,” Trump said during the press conference.

City and county leaders in San Francisco were unavailable for comment before press time on Friday.

It was also reported by San Francisco Bay Area-based ABC7 that on Thursday night, two people were hurt around 10 p.m. after security guards at the facility in Alameda fired shots. One of those people was apparently driving a U-Haul truck erratically toward the facility before attempting to back up into Coast Guard Base Alameda. The truck then apparently drove away, but the driver was later apprehended and is being held for a “mental health evaluation.”

“Coast Guard personnel issued multiple verbal commands to stop the vehicle, the driver failed to comply and proceeded to put the vehicle in reverse,” a Coast Guard statement said on X.com. “When the vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of live fire.”

A bystander on the highway where officers shot at the U-Haul truck was also injured by what the Department of Homeland Security called a “fragment,” ABC7 also reported, and was treated for their injuries.

Coast Guard Base Alameda, directly west of San Francisco, was the site of protests held earlier in the day to voice dissent against federal agents being sent to the base. A deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops was expected that same day in San Francisco before Trump’s reversal on deployment.

Attempts to reach the National Guard press office were unsuccessful, in large part because the National Guard website appeared to be malfunctioning or down throughout Friday. Calls and emails to Coast Guard Station Alameda went unreturned. City and county officials in Alameda also did not return The Center Square’s calls.

Trump’s decision to call off the National Guard follows an announcement from Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta that they would file a lawsuit against the Trump administration if the president sent federalized National Guard troops to fulfill local law enforcement roles in San Francisco.

“There is no basis to send National Guard troops to San Francisco. No emergency. No rebellion. No invasion. Not even unrest,” Bonta said in a press release issued on Tuesday. “This is outrageous, indefensible – and most importantly illegal. President Trump has long abandoned any pretenses for the illegal federalization and deployment of California’s National Guard. He does not care about satisfying the conditions of the law; he cares about himself, and he cares about power.”