By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and JANIE HAR
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump retains threatening to ship Nationwide Guard troops to San Francisco subsequent, blasting the California metropolis as crime-ridden and saying its residents are clamoring for federal assist.
However native and state leaders say that couldn’t be farther from the reality, noting total crime is down and town has began to show round its downtrodden pandemic picture. Residents and staff out downtown this week stated they’re puzzled and anxious by Trump’s menace.
“This is a safe American city,” Mayor Daniel Lurie informed The Related Press final week. “We got this in San Francisco.”
The Republican president has referenced crime as his justification for presumably sending troops to town of roughly 830,000. He’s deployed the Guard over crime considerations to Washington, D.C., the place he has direct management of the Nationwide Guard, and Memphis, the place the Republican governor helps their presence. Los Angeles was the primary metropolis the place Trump deployed the Guard, arguing it was essential to guard federal buildings and brokers as protesters fought again towards mass immigration arrests. He’s since stated they’re wanted in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as properly.
Residents and leaders in Portland had been stunned by Trump’s consideration when he described town as besieged by violent protests. In actuality, nightly protests had been small and restricted to the realm outdoors a federal immigration constructing. Whereas there have been some arrests for violence, the demonstrations had been far much less intense than those who roiled the downtown in 2020 following the loss of life of George Floyd.
In San Francisco, too, Trump appears to be counting on an outdated image of a metropolis typically focused by conservatives.
His feedback angered and baffled Kate Freudenberger, who works in retail.
“You’ve been walking around the city, it’s peaceful, there is no insurrection,” she stated Tuesday morning, including that immigration authorities haven’t been as energetic in San Francisco as in different cities, “so there’s really been nothing for us to coalesce around.”
Marc Benioff, the chief govt of San Francisco-based software program large Salesforce, triggered a stir when he informed the New York Occasions earlier this month that he’d welcome Guard troops to assist quell crime forward of his main annual enterprise convention. He has since apologized for his remarks, saying the convention was the “largest and safest” in its historical past and the Guard shouldn’t be wanted.
The town emerges from struggles
San Francisco remains to be recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, which emptied its downtown and introduced renewed consideration to road homelessness and open drug dealing. However indicators point out a metropolis on the upswing. Synthetic intelligence startups are snapping up workplace area, and residential rental costs are rising. San Francisco noticed a 21% enhance from final yr in workplace visits, in keeping with location analytics platform Placer.ai, and public transit ridership is at its highest ranges because the pandemic.
The Wall Avenue Journal this week declared town was rising from its “doom loop,” an article the mayor eagerly shared on social media.
Guests stroll on the boardwalk at Fisherman’s Wharf on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photograph/Jeff Chiu)
Folks cross Taraval Avenue after exiting a MUNI prepare within the Sundown District, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photograph/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Folks converge on a road nook within the Tenderloin District on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photograph/Jeff Chiu)
Properties are illuminated by daylight because the San Francisco skyline is seen within the background, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photograph/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
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Guests stroll on the boardwalk at Fisherman’s Wharf on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photograph/Jeff Chiu)
Develop
Sidewalks are cleaner and tent encampments have largely disappeared from view. Within the Tenderloin, some of the troubled neighborhoods, groups of metropolis and nonprofit staff on Monday helped college kids cross the road, walked round selecting up trash or endorsed homeless individuals. It was a distinct picture than through the pandemic, when lots of of individuals camped on sidewalks.
Nonetheless, the Tenderloin is an issue spot for public drug use and dealing, as are the Mid-Market and Mission neighborhoods. However total crime is down greater than 26% this yr in comparison with the identical interval final yr, in keeping with the San Francisco Police Division. Car break-ins — which have vexed vacationers and residents alike — are at a 22-year low, Lurie stated.
Lurie, a centrist Democrat who has tried to keep away from confrontations with Trump by ignoring most of the president’s feedback, stated Monday he’d welcome extra federal assist to arrest drug sellers and disrupt drug markets. However sending within the Guard wouldn’t obtain that, he stated.
“The National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers—and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer,” Lurie stated in a press release.
San Francisco voters in 2024 gave police the authority to make use of drones, surveillance cameras and different expertise to combat crime. Additionally they ousted politically progressive District Legal professional Chesa Boudin in a 2022 recall election and put in Brooke Jenkins, thought-about to be a lot more durable on crime than her predecessor. Lurie has pushed to rent and retain cops, and entry-level police purposes are up 40% over final yr.
California leaders pledge to combat again
Lawsuits by Democratic officers in Chicago and Portland have thus far blocked troops from going out on metropolis streets.
Libby Baxter, a retired nurse, stated Trump has despatched the Nationwide Guard to Democratic cities to create “chaos and unrest” and she or he fears the identical might occur in San Francisco.
“I believe that that may happen if they come to San Francisco because we are a very tolerant community, but we don’t do well with somebody coming in and trying to dictate or take over certain parts of our city,” she stated.
Initially Revealed: October 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM EDT
