“A man from Pakistan, which was the home country where my family is originally from, was detained at immigration court. These tactics create trauma and erode trust in the public institutions intended to serve and protect all residents,” Mahmood said. “[Trump] may be holding back for now, but whether it’s 100 agents or one, this is unacceptable.”
Yet the mayor’s dealings with the Trump administration come as a relief to many who worried troops on the ground in San Francisco would only inspire more fear and chaos.
“Mayor Lurie deserves credit. There’s no doubt that he initiated some of these conversations, and it seems like a deliberate strategy to enlist the support of people such as Marc Benioff, a rich businessman, that Trump might listen to,” said Jason McDaniel, a politics professor at San Francisco State University.
Last week, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who formerly supported Democratic candidates, came under fire for praising Trump and supporting calls to send the National Guard to San Francisco. Lurie spoke directly with Benioff, who later walked back his remarks and apologized.
As tensions this week over a potential National Guard deployment loomed, Lurie repeatedly affirmed the city’s sanctuary status, meaning local police cannot aid federal immigration enforcement. But the city also can’t interfere with these agencies operating in San Francisco, either.
The city already partners with agencies like the FBI, DEA and ATF as part of a multi-agency crackdown on fentanyl dealing in the Tenderloin. These agencies also assist with immigration enforcement, have the power to arrest and can turn people over to ICE for potential deportation.
Some city leaders want to see more of that.
“If drug dealers are undocumented immigrants and committing a crime in our city, they should be deported,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the South of Market neighborhood.
The U.S. attorney general’s office has cut back on street-level drug-dealing cases, Dorsey said.
“That was disappointing … having a good, strong cooperative federal partnership could mean a big difference,” Dorsey said, applauding the mayor’s negotiation with the president.
Previous administrations have also brought in state resources like the California Highway Patrol to assist with drug trafficking. Last year, Lurie made combating outdoor drug use and dealing a key component of his mayoral campaign.
“Asking for help from federal and state governments to bring more resources to bear is certainly something that I can see being a popular position and one that is consistent with the positions that Lurie has laid out,” McDaniel said of Lurie’s messaging.
Drug arrests and citations have increased in San Francisco this year, according to city data, and the first-term mayor claimed that the support of federal law enforcement has been helpful in that mission.
“We have an ongoing partnership … to tackle fentanyl,” Lurie said when asked about concerns that increased law enforcement from other federal agencies could threaten immigrants. “We’ve made progress, but we still have a lot of work to do on this front. Fentanyl is a scourge in our city, and we will work with anybody that will help us end the fentanyl crisis on our streets.”
During his address Thursday, Lurie stood flanked by the city’s public safety leaders, who supported the mayor’s calls for more cooperation with federal law enforcement agencies on drug issues. Trump also posted to Truth Social, praising Lurie for the city’s progress on crime.
But outside City Hall, at a rally with labor unions, nurses echoed Fielder’s concerns. Many feared that immigrants with no connections to the drug trade could be targeted and racially profiled.
Others said increasing law enforcement to handle street-level drug challenges, including fentanyl dealing and overdoses, could have adverse public health effects.
