City Attorney David Chiu promised ‘legal action’ against the White House if it went forward with its plans
by Yujie Zhou October 21, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)
City Attorney David Chiu on Tuesday vowed “legal action” against President Donald Trump’s administration if it goes forward with its threats to send National Guard troops into San Francisco.
Also on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said would sue “immediately” if Trump sends troops.
The vows came the same day as San Francisco joined a coalition of local jurisdictions from around the country urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Chicago, as well as other American cities.
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The coalition of 109 mayors, elected officials and cities and counties, including Chiu, filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, which is now considering whether to prevent the National Guard deployment to Illinois in the case of Donald J. Trump, et al. v. State of Illinois, et al.
The brief was jointly filed by cities across the country and up and down the California coast: Alameda, Anaheim, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose, and Santa Monica, alongside Portland, New York, Baltimore, Boston, Tucson, Minneapolis, and many more.
It comes as Trump has repeatedly talked about deploying the National Guard to San Francisco, rhetoric that followed Marc Benioff’s remarks last week that he would support seeing troops in the city. Benioff has since backtracked.
San Francisco Mayor Danie Lurie stated yesterday that sending the National Guard to San Francisco “will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer.”
The legal brief details how increasing deployments of the National Guard erodes state and local sovereignty, weakens community confidence in local law enforcement, disrupts social stability, and leaves local governments with millions of dollars in unpaid expenses.
“We urge the Court to uphold the bedrock legal principle that domestic law enforcement is not the military’s job,” said Chiu, noting that it should only be a last resort when local resources are overwhelmed.
Chiu cited that San Francisco is currently at a 70-year low in homicides and a 22-year low in car break-ins. The fact that the city managed the recent “No Kings” demonstration, in which over 50,000 people participated without incident, proves that the city is capable of keeping its own people safe, he said.
Local law enforcement also has a better understanding of the city, deeper ties to the community, and more experience of working with other city departments, Chiu added.
“Should President Trump make good on his ridiculous threats to send the military to San Francisco, our city is prepared, and my office is prepared to take the necessary legal action to defend San Francisco,” Chiu said.
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Yujie Zhou
I’m reporting from Bayview-Hunters Point and Chinatown. I came on as an intern after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and became a full-time staff reporter as part of the Report for America and have stayed on. Before falling in love with the Mission, I covered New York City, studied politics through the “street clashes” in Hong Kong, and earned a wine-tasting certificate in two days. I’m proud to be a bilingual journalist. Follow me on Twitter @Yujie_ZZ.More by Yujie Zhou
