San Francisco mayor rejects Trump's National Guard deployment plan over drug dealer arrest authority

Mayor Daniel Lurie said the National Guard cannot arrest drug dealers and opposed President Donald Trump's deployment plan for San Francisco crime crackdown.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, right, rejected President Donald Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco.  (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

"As your mayor, my top priority every single day is keeping San Francisco safe. With the support of local law enforcement, community leaders, and the appropriate federal law enforcement partners, we’re achieving that goal without compromising our values or our laws," Lurie said, touting that violent crime is down and the "city is moving in the right direction."

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Lurie said the city welcomes stronger coordination with government agencies to arrest drug dealers and disrupt drug markets, but since the National Guard "does not have the authority" to arrest drug dealers, he said their presence will do nothing to stop the flow of fentanyl. 

In a statement shared exclusively with Fox News Digital on Monday, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said San Francisco Democrats should "welcome the President in to clean up their city."

President Donald Trump visits the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But the White House urged California Democrats to recognize the progress made in Memphis, Tennessee, and in Washington, D.C., where fellow Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser has acknowledged the Trump administration's success cleaning up the nation's capital

"We're going to go to San Francisco," Trump said on 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."

Newsom was quick to fire back in a social media post Sunday, writing, "Fact check: Nobody wants you here. You will ruin one of America's greatest cities."

Newsom criticized Trump in August for "militarizing American cities" after the president deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to fight crime in the nation's capital. 

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie prepares to throw the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on Friday, April 4, 2025, in San Francisco, California.  (Darren Yamashita/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

The California governor, a frequent Trump critic who is considered a likely 2028 presidential candidate, deployed California Highway Patrol "crime-suppression teams" across the Golden State in August to prevent crime and promote public safety. 

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"While the Trump administration undermines cities, California is partnering with them and delivering real results. With these new deployments, we’re doubling down on these partnerships to build on progress and keep driving crime down," Newsom said in a statement in August, seemingly to deter another National Guard deployment to California. 

Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles this spring during protests rejecting deportations by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in line with another Trump mandate. 

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital. 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/san-francisco-mayor-rejects-trumps-national-guard-deployment-plan-over-drug-dealer-arrest-authority