Bay Area Stand Down

Demonstrators at Coast Guard Island, Alameda (Wittpenn/Chron)

President Trump said on Thursday that he would not order the National Guard into San Francisco. Yesterday Federal officials confirmed that immigration enforcement actions, including sending the National Guard, were suspended in the entire Bay Area.

The Rev. Deborah Lee, co-executive director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a coalition of 300 faith groups across California, was happy to hear the “welcome news” of the Bay Area-wide stand-down, but also wanted to “to make sure that there’s not a false sense of security. … We also want to make sure people don’t let their guard down too much because we’re still in an overall difficult reality.”

In front of Coast Guard Island Bridge shortly after noon Friday, protesters were cautiously optimistic after Lee’s announcement.

“It’s not over yet, but that they’re out of Oakland for now is a huge win for us,” said protester JP Hayes.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said protester Ryan Hasty. “Trump could change his mind tomorrow. We need to let them know that even into the future, we don’t want to see it.”

The anti-ICE protestors should take the win and be happy, but your humble blogger senses a tinge of disappointment in some of them that there won't be a confrontation. Eh, it's probably just my imagination.