I spoke with Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, who confirmed through her communications with ICE that Border Patrol operations are cancelled for the greater Bay Area - which includes Oakland - at this time.
In an early Saturday morning post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote that he will be sending troops to "protect war ravaged Portland" as well as the city's ICE facility from those he called "Antifa and other domestic terrorists." More troubling still, the president also authorized his agents to use "full force, if necessary." This announcement came on the heels of Friday night's press conference held by Mayor Keith Wilson and several state leaders, saying that the Trump administration had deployed additional federal agents to Portland's ICE facility. The mayor labeled the administration's move as "just a big show," and along with others in attendance, encouraged Portlanders to "not take the bait," or physically engage with ICE officers.
The Trump administration has controversially deployed federal agents in several U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago, claiming it was necessary to fight crime. Local and state officials have publicly denounced the federal crackdown, but thus far the elected representatives from these areas speaking out in opposition have been mostly Democrats like D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
With some federal agents already at a nearby naval station and fencing erected around the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse overnight, Chicagoans and Illinois' elected officials on Friday continued to prepare for US President Donald Trump's militarized " invasion " of the country's third-largest city. Trump has threatened to not only send immigration enforcement agents but also deploy the National Guard and even potentially active-duty military, mirroring what he has done in Los Angeles and the District of Columbia.
