Immigration surge called off for entire San Francisco Bay Area, officials say

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By Nathan Frandino

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) -A planned immigration enforcement push by U.S. Border Patrol has been called off throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Oakland, local officials said on Friday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not go forward with a deployment of additional federal officers to San Francisco.

As part of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, he has increased federal immigration officers in several U.S. cities and dispatched National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. He had planned to send agents into San Francisco but agreed to hold off after speaking with Mayor Daniel Lurie and tech leaders, who said the city was making progress.

It was unclear at first whether other Bay Area cities like Oakland would still be affected. Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said on Thursday the city was preparing for peaceful protests in response.

On Friday, Alameda County Sheriff’s department spokesman Roberto Morales said Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez was informed by federal authorities that the enforcement plan was canceled for the entire Bay Area. Lee said she had been told the same thing by Sanchez.

“Border Patrol operations are canceled for the greater Bay Area – which includes Oakland – at this time,” she said.

(Reporting by Nathan Frandino, editing by Peter Henderson and Rosalba O’Brien)