Trump says he has called off federal ‘surge’ in San Francisco amid pushback

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has called off plans to send a “surge” of federal personnel into San Francisco this weekend to target crime, an announcement that came after he had a private conversation with Mayor Daniel Lurie.

Trump said on social media that “friends” who live in the city - including Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff - asked him not to go forward with the operation. He said he agreed in a phone call with Lurie (D) late Wednesday to give the mayor more time to address crime issues.

The president’s decision came as Lurie and other San Francisco leaders had denounced the pending deployment of federal personnel; protesters gathered Thursday outside Coast Guard Base Alameda, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers began arriving.

“I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I told him I think he is making a mistake, because we can do it much faster, and remove the criminals that the Law does not permit him to remove. … Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great. They want to give it a ‘shot.’ Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”

In a post on X, Lurie said he received assurances from Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem that the president was “calling off” enhanced federal operations.

In their call, the mayor said, “I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise. Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office. We have work to do, and we would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery.”

In an afternoon news conference, the mayor indicated that he had not asked the technology leaders to call the president on the city’s behalf. Benioff had sparked outrage among San Francisco leaders two weeks ago by saying he would support sending National Guard troops to the city. After facing fierce criticism, Benioff apologized for the comments and said he no longer believes such tactics are needed to address safety issues.

Since taking office in January, Lurie has sought to avoid directly antagonizing the president, a strategy that has engendered criticism from some civil rights groups who say he has not been forceful enough. He has portrayed San Francisco as a city that has made significant strides in reducing violent crime and homeless encampments, mitigating the need for federal intervention.

“This is a city on the rise, and that’s what I said to him,” the mayor said about his conversation with Trump.

DHS did not respond to requests for further details.

The resolution appeared, for now, to decrease mounting tensions among San Francisco leaders and the Trump administration, which has targeted Democratic-led cities for increased immigration enforcement, including Los Angeles, Washington, Boston and Chicago. Trump has sent National Guard troops to several cities, while others, including Chicago and Portland, have won temporary reprieves in court against the president’s Guard deployments.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said this week that the state would sue the Trump administration if the president attempts to direct military troops into San Francisco. Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Kevin Mullin, who represent California districts that cover San Francisco, warned that federal agents could face arrest if they break California law.

“California law protects communities and prevents federal agents from taking certain actions here that we have witnessed in other states. While the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not,” they said in a statement Wednesday. “Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law - and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reacted angrily to Pelosi and Mullin, calling their statements a threat to federal officers.

“To California’s elected leaders: do not weaponize your police forces for politics. Ordering or directing state or local officers to act against federal agents risks violating federal law and endangering public safety,” Bondi and Blanche wrote on X.

Lurie said he had spoken with Bondi about continued partnerships between federal and local law enforcement to fight illegal fentanyl distribution and other issues in the city.

At the White House on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the development demonstrated that Trump is “willing to work with anyone across the aisle, across the country, to do the right thing and clean up America’s cities. He is genuinely interested in this effort to make our streets safer, to make our cities safe and clean again. And he heard from the mayor last night, who told him that he is going to earnestly try to make his city better on his own. The president heard him out.”

San Francisco is one of the nation’s longest-standing sanctuary jurisdictions, having approved policies in 1989 that limit local cooperation with civil immigration enforcement. Former city leaders, including Newsom, who served as mayor, and former vice president Kamala Harris, a onetime San Francisco district attorney, have used their positions to vault into national prominence, with both of them viewed as potential 2028 presidential candidates.

In a live video address Wednesday, Lurie said he had signed an executive directive to ensure that local police abide by sanctuary policies that prohibit them from assisting in civil immigration and respect the free speech of residents who protest the Trump administration’s actions. He warned that the administration was aiming to provoke “backlash, chaos and violence” in American cities.

On Thursday, the mayor told reporters that city leaders will remain prepared for “any scenario” but said he hoped the crisis had passed.

“This has been a really challenging day for San Francisco, a challenging week. I really hope people can take a breath,” Lurie said.

- - -

Mariana Alfaro and Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.