Highly anticipated federal immigration raids in San Francisco were paused after a phone call between Mayor Daniel Lurie and President Donald Trump, the mayor said Thursday.

“Late last night, I received a phone call from the President of the United States. I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise. Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office,” Lurie wrote on social media.

The mayor, who was elected last year, said he “would welcome” partnership with federal agencies “to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery.”

“In that conversation, the president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning,” Lurie wrote, adding that his office would continue to monitor the situation.

Trump confirmed the change in plans, writing on Truth Social that several of his tech leader friends had called and asked him not to move forward with the raids, which the president said were supposed to begin Saturday.

“I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around,” the president wrote. While Trump argued that federal law enforcement could “do it much faster,” he acknowledged Lurie “was making substantial progress” improving the city.

Trump initially recommended sending the National Guard to San Francisco after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told the New York Times he wanted federal law enforcement to come fight crime in the city.

Benioff, a close friend of Gov. Gavin Newsom, later backed off his comments and apologized.

Trump said Benioff and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang were among the friends who reached out to him ahead of the planned deployment. “They want to give it a ‘shot.’ Therefore, we will not surge in San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!” the president wrote.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the development proves “the president is willing to work with anyone across the aisle, across the country, to do the right thing and clean up America’s cities. He is genuinely interested in this effort to make our streets safer, to make our cities safe and clean again.”

“He heard from the mayor last night, who told him that he is going to earnestly try to make his city better on his own. The president heard him out, he said, ‘OK, I’ll give you a chance. We’ll be watching. And if you need us, we are here and if I feel as though you continue to fail your citizens, the federal government may have to step in, but we’ll continue to watch San Francisco,’ ” Leavitt said. “And that law enforcement operation has now been paused.”

Lurie addresses the change in plans

At a City Hall press conference, Lurie said he did not promise Trump anything in exchange for averting the planned raids and that he did not ask for a call with the president: “He called me.”

Lurie, flanked by top San Francisco officials including SFPD chief Paul Yep and DA Brooke Jenkins, described his call with Trump at a City Hall press conference, reiterating his belief that the presence of federal agents would anger residents and set back improvements in public safety.

“Today, in San Francisco, crime is down nearly 30% citywide, and violent crime is at its lowest levels since the 1950s. Car break-ins are at 22-year lows, and homicides are on track to hit 70-year lows,” he said, adding that public safety is his “No. 1 priority.”

On the phone, the two only spoke about San Francisco, and Trump did not say whether he would instead focus on other cities like Oakland, Lurie said.

Lurie did not say whether he thought his less antagonistic approach with Trump influenced the decision to back down. He also declined to comment on whether billionaires have too much influence with the president, saying he was only there to speak about how “San Francisco is on the rise.”

The mayor said he also spoke Thursday morning with Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who agreed to partner with the city’s police to tackle fentanyl and hold drug dealers accountable.

“As we look ahead, my team will continue to monitor the situation closely, and our city remains prepared for any scenario. We have a plan in place that can be activated at any moment, but as I said yesterday, it is my sincere hope that we never have to put that planning into action,” Lurie said.

Mary Ellen Carroll, director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, said they are assessing the situation day-to-day and have no information about whether immigration agents would go to other Bay Area cities instead.

Outside city hall, about 100 people gathered to rally, holding signs that read, “ICE OUT OF THE BAY and NO ICE TROOPS IN THE BAY!” Dozens of cars drove by honking in solidarity.

Olga Miranda of SEIU Local 87 called upon San Francisco groups to “put aside their political b—“ and unite to protect vulnerable migrant groups by buying extra groceries for people too afraid to go out.

“I call on every single one of you to make sure you buy from those businesses that are being affected, those small businesses,” she said. “This is a moment where San Francisco, after every challenge of San Francisco, we always stand up together.”

Rafael Mandelman, president of the Board of Supervisors, said they had no way of knowing whether Trump’s order standing down CBP agents would hold but said he commended Mayor Lurie. In response to news that tech moguls like Huang and Benioff had intervened to persuade Trump to stand down, Mandelman said the city was “fortunate” to have “companies that are important nationally or internationally be willing to stand up” for San Francisco.

Tensions high in the East Bay

The city and larger Bay Area region had been on high alert since Wednesday, when word spread that federal immigration agents would be deployed to San Francisco.

Across the bay, federal agents clashed with protesters Thursday morning at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, where the Trump administration reportedly sent 100 agents for its planned operations in San Francisco.

As news spread that San Francisco would be spared, East Bay leaders feared federal agents would instead target their communities.

More than a dozen community and government leaders assembled in Oakland, defiantly pledging to monitor federal activity and protect immigrants, which make up a third of Alameda County’s population.

Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez reaffirmed that her agency would not cooperate with any federal immigration enforcement, said Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas.

“We knew this day would come,” she said. “That is why we have been working all year to secure over $7 million to support immigrant justice,” including public defenders and a hotline for residents to report sightings of federal immigration agents.

“This administration has unleashed a reign of terror in our community,” said Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro. “Our families don’t feel prepared. They feel the anxiety. They feel the fear watching the news, knowing that those ICE agents can come up at any moment and take them away from their families.”

Ortega, whose family immigrated to the Bay Area from Mexico when she was a child, promised to stand up for the “same city that embraced me at 3 years old, that comforted me and did not put me in a cage.”

Trump’s crackdown on blue cities

San Francisco had appeared to be the next Democratic-led city targeted by the Trump administration, which has already deployed immigration enforcement agents and National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, Memphis and Washington, D.C.

Legally, opponents of Trump’s rigorous immigration agenda can do little to stop the presence of federal agents in their states and cities. But Democratic leaders including Gov. Gavin Newsom have sued over federal control of the National Guard and its on-the-ground presence.

Numerous lawsuits are moving through federal courts over whether Trump has the authority to call up Guard troops in American cities without the support of governors. A ruling by the 9th Circuit federal appeals court earlier this week struck down one of two stays blocking the use of National Guard troops in Portland.

Newsom had threatened to file a lawsuit the “nanosecond” military members enter San Francisco and urged protesters to act peacefully and safely.

On Wednesday, Newsom deployed California National Guard members to help food banks during the federal government shutdown.

“That’s what I think we should use the National Guard for. Not this folly. Not this nonsense. Not this vanity project to show strength,” Newsom said at a press conference Wednesday. SNAP benefits, known as CalFresh in California, are expected to be delayed in November because of the shutdown.

“I am profoundly grateful to all the San Franciscans who came together over the last several days,” Lurie said in his X post. “Our city leaders have been united behind the goal of public safety. And our values have been on full display—this is the best of our city.”

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