San Francisco found itself at the epicenter of a high-stakes political standoff this week, as the city braced for a possible federal surge of agents and National Guard troops—a threat that, for now, has been averted after a dramatic series of interventions from local leaders, tech titans, and community organizers.
The tension reached a fever pitch on October 23 and 24, 2025, when labor leaders, immigrant advocates, and city officials rallied at City Hall, united in their opposition to what they described as an imminent federal “invasion.” Behind banners reading “We Keep Us Safe,” Bianca Polovina, president of IFPTE Local 21, urged residents to look out for one another. “It can be as simple as, ‘I’m going to sign up to adopt the corner that I live on,’ whether it’s here in San Francisco County or in Alameda County,” Polovina said, according to 48hills. “I’m going to take care of my neighbors, I’m going to buy extra groceries, I’m going to buy additional goods from street vendors, buy them out so that they can go home. They don’t have to worry about vending goods where they might have concern that ICE would be coming for them.”
The anxiety was not unfounded. Early Thursday morning, President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that he would not deploy federal agents or National Guard troops to San Francisco on Saturday, October 25, after a late-night phone call with Mayor Daniel Lurie and conversations with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great,” Trump wrote, as quoted by NBC Bay Area. “They want to give it a ‘shot.’ Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!”
Mayor Lurie, who has been in office for just under a year, described the critical phone call with Trump as one of the most significant moments of his tenure. “I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise,” Lurie said in a statement reported by KRON4. “Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office.” Lurie’s approach was notably measured; unlike Governor Gavin Newsom, who has often publicly criticized Trump, Lurie avoided mentioning the president’s name, focusing instead on cooperation and the city’s progress. “That’s for you to talk about,” he replied when asked if his nonconfrontational stance had helped avert the crisis, as reported by The Standard.
The mayor’s strategy, which emphasized communication and public safety over confrontation, appears to have paid off—at least for now. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the decision in a follow-up conversation with Lurie, and political leaders from across the spectrum, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Governor Newsom, praised Lurie’s leadership. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that Lurie’s success in brokering a reprieve marks a significant win for the first-term mayor.
Yet, the influence of Silicon Valley’s elite in the saga cannot be overstated. Benioff, whose earlier call for National Guard deployment two weeks ago had triggered the crisis, reversed his position after facing public backlash and losing a key ally from his foundation board, according to CNBC. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and a prominent San Francisco property owner, also weighed in, adding further pressure on the White House. These interventions highlighted the unique role that tech billionaires play in Bay Area politics—sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
While San Francisco celebrated a temporary victory, the situation remained tense across the Bay. On October 24, more than 100 federal agents, primarily from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, arrived at Coast Guard Island in Alameda. Protests erupted at dawn, with demonstrators attempting to block the entrance. According to The Oaklandside, federal officers responded with flash-bang grenades and pepper spray, and several protesters were injured. The crowd, which included clergy singing hymns and activists in costume, eventually dispersed after California Highway Patrol officers arrived in riot gear.
East Bay officials, including Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, expressed concern that federal enforcement efforts might now shift to Oakland. “We know the playbook,” Jones Dickson said at a press conference, as reported by SFGATE. “We know that they’re baiting Oakland, and that’s why San Francisco, all of a sudden, is off the table.” The fear is that while San Francisco’s political connections helped stave off intervention, less connected communities could become the next targets.
The threatened deployment to San Francisco was part of a broader pattern of federal interventions in Democratic-led cities—such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland—many of which have faced legal challenges. Hoodline reported that a federal judge ruled Trump’s Los Angeles deployment illegal, citing violations of the Posse Comitatus Act. Courts in Oregon and Illinois have similarly blocked National Guard deployments, underscoring the legal and political complexities of such actions.
Locally, San Francisco officials moved swiftly to reaffirm the city’s sanctuary status. On October 22, Mayor Lurie signed an emergency directive instructing police to protect immigrants and peaceful protesters while refraining from assisting with federal civil immigration enforcement. This directive was echoed by community leaders at City Hall. “If the federal government wants to help San Francisco,” Polovina said, “Stop cutting public services. It’s to feed us. It’s to fund health care. It’s to invest in public services, not give away tax breaks to billionaires. That’s the way the federal government can help us, not send an invasion into the San Francisco Bay Area.”
Supervisor Jackie Fielder, whose Mission District was expected to be a flashpoint, remained vigilant. “We are not the aggressors. They are,” Fielder told the gathering, according to 48hills. “They are the ones spewing threats to invade our communities. They are the ones threatening that they will march into our neighborhoods, onto our doorsteps. They are the ones trying to tear apart what we’ve built in San Francisco: our sanctuary, our solidarity, and yes, our safety.”
As the crisis unfolded, city leaders announced new legislation to appropriate funds from San Francisco’s general reserves to support immigrant legal services and the Rapid Response Network, which has been underfunded amid federal threats. The Rapid Response Network, despite no additional funding in 2025, continues to serve immigrants under immense pressure and high demand, providing a crucial safety net for vulnerable residents.
Reflecting on the week’s events, Cassondra Curiel, president of the local teacher’s union, emphasized the broader stakes: “Teaching students to have an inclusive and tolerant view of the world is what we do best. Teaching students to have a tolerant and inclusive view of the world is also a call to action to all of us to oppose, resist, and protest intolerance, bigotry, and all forms of discrimination like we are being threatened with today.”
For now, San Francisco breathes a sigh of relief, its sanctuary status intact, its leaders and residents united. But as Trump’s parting words—“Stay tuned!”—echo across the Bay, the city remains on alert, fully aware that the threat may return at any moment.
