President Donald J. Trump says he has the “unquestioned power” send National Guard troops to San Francisco.
“We’re gonna go to San Francisco,” Trump during a Fox News interview Sunday. “The difference is I think they want us in San Francisco.”
“San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world, and then 15 years ago it went wrong, it went woke,” Trump continued. “But we’re gonna go to San Francisco and we’re gonna make it great. We’re gonna make it great. It’ll be great again. San Francisco is a great city. It won’t be great if it keeps going like this.”
“Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. 50% of the presidents almost have used that,” the president said.
Trump said he is “so proud” of the deployment he carried out in Washington, D.C., where 1,700 “career criminals” were removed from the city.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie doesn’t want federal troops in the city, whatever success Trump had in D.C.. Lurie, speaking at the San Francisco Police Department’s academy in Diamond Heights this week, said crime is down under his watch and that local officials have crime under control.
“We are moving in the right direction and will continue to prioritize safety and hiring while San Francisco law enforcement works every single day to keep our city safe,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
The Washington Examiner reports: “Crime is down in the Northern California city 30% compared to 2024 while the number of homicides is on track to be the lowest in 70 years. The number of police officers patrolling the streets has increased for the first time since the pandemic, though the force is still 500 shy of its staffing goal.“
California Governor Gavin Newsom also responded Sunday on social media, saying, “Fact check: Nobody wants you here. You will ruin one of America’s greatest cities.”
Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law expert and Dean of Berkeley Law, told ABC7 News that Trump may be wrong.
“He said it’s illegal for the president to use troops for domestic law enforcement citing the Posse Comitatus Act which was adopted in 1878. He pointed to three federal court judges finding that the use of the troops for domestic law enforcement was impermissible. Those rulings were with regard to L.A., Portland and Chicago,” the outlet reported. “Now the question is going to the Supreme Court as Trump asks the high court to okay the use of troops in Chicago.”
The Trump administration is also working to put the National Guard in Chicago, saying that “the people want us there.” Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D-IL) disagrees and has been adamant in his refusal to allow troops in the city.
Fact check: Nobody wants you here.
You will ruin one of America’s greatest cities. https://t.co/bdMoAhFmMS
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 19, 2025
