President Donald Trump said on Thursday, October 23, that he would not deploy federal troops to San Francisco, backing away from earlier discussions about stepping up efforts to combat crime and illegal immigration in the Bay Area.
In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that friends had asked him not to take that step, noting that the city’s Democratic mayor, Daniel Lurie, was “making noticeable progress.” According to Trump, among those who urged him to forgo sending in the National Guard were Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
The president added that he had spoken with Lurie the previous evening, and that the mayor had “very politely” asked for a chance to handle the situation on his own. “I told him he’s wrong, because we can do it much faster and take down the criminals the law doesn’t allow him to detain,” Trump said. “I told him, ‘If we do it, it’ll be faster, tougher, and safer. But let’s see how you do.’”
Trump’s public statement came shortly after Lurie wrote on X that the president had abandoned plans for federal intervention. “During our conversation, the president made it clear that he was taking the deployment of federal forces to San Francisco off the table. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed this during our call this morning,” the mayor wrote.
Earlier in the week, reports emerged that the administration had sent one hundred immigration officers to the city, with the first arrivals expected on Thursday. Lurie and other California Democrats sharply criticized the decision.