ALBAWABA- U.S. President Donald Trump has called off a planned deployment of federal law enforcement agents to San Francisco, following a direct late-night conversation with the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, both leaders confirmed on October 23, 2025.
The reversal averts a potential standoff between the White House and local officials in the Democratic stronghold, which had been bracing for an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal officers amid a wave of immigration raids across California.
Mayor Lurie, who recently took office, said Trump personally assured him on October 22 that the planned operation would not go forward. “He told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco,” Lurie said, emphasizing that such a move “would hinder our recovery” as the city works to tackle crime and homelessness.
Trump confirmed the decision in a post on Truth Social, explaining that several prominent San Francisco executives, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, had urged him to reconsider.
“I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance,” Trump wrote, warning that the city was “making a mistake” but agreeing to “see how you do.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem later confirmed the stand-down order.
The episode comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and California’s Democratic leadership. Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta had pledged to resist any federal “show of force,” denouncing it as political theater. San Francisco’s reprieve contrasts with Los Angeles, where more than 100 federal agents have recently arrived to boost immigration enforcement operations.
Since taking office in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly invoked the Insurrection Act to justify dispatching federal agents and National Guard units to cities run by Democrats, citing spiraling crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration.
