President Donald Trump said he plans to send the National Guard to San Francisco to fight crime. During a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump said the National Guard would go to the city next, after being sent to Chicago, Memphis, and Portland. The president said San Francisco wants federal help and talked about how the city has gone downhill over the past 15 years.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said no to the plan on Monday through an Instagram video. Lurie won the election in 2024 after beating a mayor who had been in office for six years. He has made keeping the city safe his main goal. He said he respects the military but found a big problem with Trump’s idea.
“I am deeply grateful to the members of our military for their service to our country, but 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 said. The mayor explained that while the city wants to work better with federal police to arrest drug dealers and shut down drug markets, the National Guard cannot arrest people. So having them there would not help stop fentanyl.
The Mayor Says The City Is Already Getting Safer
Lurie said his team has made good progress on safety over the past nine months. He said violent crime has gone down and the city is getting better without breaking its rules or laws. During a meeting on Friday, the mayor talked about how his team has hired more police officers, gotten different departments to work together better, and started using technology to help fight crime.
The White House did not agree with Lurie’s decision. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said San Francisco Democrats should let Trump come in and clean up their city. She said Democrat policies have made America’s big cities full of chaos and crime by caring more about criminals than regular people. Jackson said making cities safe again was a big promise Trump made when he was running for president.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who often disagrees with Trump and might run for president in 2028, also spoke up. He wrote on social media Sunday that nobody wants Trump in San Francisco and said he would ruin one of America’s best cities. Newsom had criticized Trump back in August for sending soldiers to American cities when the president sent National Guard troops to Washington D.C.
The governor sent California Highway Patrol officers across the state in August to help stop crime. He said California is working with cities to get real results while Trump is making things worse for them. This is similar to recent arguments between Trump and Chicago leaders about crime. Trump had already sent the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year when people were protesting against immigration deportations.
Published: Oct 21, 2025 01:00 pm