Trump Administration To Pick Up Enforcement In San Francisco
The Trump administration has once again placed San Francisco in its crosshairs—this time, as the latest target in a renewed push to crack down on crime and sanctuary policies that federal officials argue are shielding illegal immigrants from accountability.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the announcement from Sarasota, Florida, confirming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be deployed to San Francisco in an effort to remove criminal illegal immigrants from the streets. Noem was unequivocal: “We’re going to San Francisco at the direction of the president,” she said, grouping the city with others such as Portland, Chicago, and Memphis—jurisdictions she described as continuing to pose “challenges.”
NEW: @Sec_Noem says the Trump admin’s mass deportation effort will target the sanctuary city of San Francisco next pic.twitter.com/NRvT1au9Rp
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) October 20, 2025
This marks an escalation in what has become a long-running feud between the federal government and sanctuary cities—municipalities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, particularly in refusing to detain or transfer individuals flagged by ICE unless there’s a court order.
President Trump, speaking over the weekend on Fox News, went further. Framing the mission as a kind of moral and civic reclamation, he said San Francisco was once “one of the great cities of the world” before, in his words, it “went woke.” His pledge: “We’re going to San Francisco and we’re going to make it great.” That promise carries echoes of earlier deployments to cities like Los Angeles, where the administration previously used military support to suppress violent anti-ICE protests.
Trump’s remarks also come in the context of a summer fraught with legal battles. His prior attempts to send National Guard troops to Portland and Chicago were challenged in court, raising constitutional questions about the extent of federal power in enforcing immigration law within state borders.
Fact check: Nobody wants you here.
You will ruin one of America’s greatest cities. https://t.co/bdMoAhFmMS
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 19, 2025
Still, the administration appears undeterred. The strategy—intensifying federal immigration enforcement in high-profile cities—is consistent with Trump’s broader platform on law and order. And it puts sanctuary jurisdictions like San Francisco in the national spotlight once again, forcing local leaders to respond. California Governor Gavin Newsom did so swiftly, lashing out on X (formerly Twitter), telling Trump: “Nobody wants you here. You will ruin one of America’s greatest cities.”
This unfolding scenario sets up yet another high-stakes standoff—federal power versus local autonomy, immigration enforcement versus civil liberty, public safety versus political ideology. As ICE agents head toward San Francisco, what unfolds next may serve as a bellwether for how future administrations navigate the bitter intersection of immigration policy and local governance.
