(San Francisco) Donald Trump announced Thursday that he was postponing the sending of federal forces to San Francisco, after having repeatedly mentioned sending troops to a city portrayed by the American right as plagued by crime.
The president said he was preparing to order the action this weekend, but was convinced to reverse course after speaking to “friends of (him) who live in the area” and Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The Democratic councilor “asked me, very kindly, to give him a chance to see if he could rectify the situation,” he assured on his Truth Social network.
“I told him I think he’s making a mistake because we can do this much more quickly and take out the criminals that the law doesn’t allow him to take out,” Mr. Trump continued.
“Therefore, we will not be operating in San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned! », added the billionaire.
The president, however, did not rule out a subsequent intensification of immigration enforcement (ICE) strike operations, or the dispatch of the National Guard in the future, as he has done in other Democratic cities such as Los Angeles and Washington.
Mayor Daniel Lurie warned this week that masked ICE agents were using tactics designed to provoke unrest, then used as a pretext to dispatch the military to the scene.
PHOTO YALONDA M. JAMES, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie
On Thursday, he assured that he had convinced Mr. Trump to back down during a call, explaining that San Francisco was in full recovery.
“The president made it clear to me that he is canceling any federal deployment plans in San Francisco,” the mayor said.
San Francisco has been used for several years as a foil by the Republicans, to denounce the decline to which they believe the policies of the American left are leading.
They present it as a city with rampant crime, a growing number of homeless people and problems with drug use in the streets.
The reality is more complex: unlike many American cities, which experience the same problems in outlying suburbs, San Francisco’s homeless are concentrated in the city center, in an area close to the business district and tourist attractions.
Despite this increased visibility, the city’s crime rates are plummeting.
Figures from the San Francisco Police Department and the California Department of Justice show that murders are at a seven-decade low, while robberies are at a 40-year low.
