Daniel Lurie, the 46th Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. (Photo: sf.gov)
Mayor Lurie’s Perilous Gamble with Federal Authority
The mayor doubles-down on San Francisco’s Sanctuary stance
By Richie Greenberg, January 26, 2026 3:55 am
In the wake of the January 34, 2026, shooting in Minneapolis, where a federal Border Patrol agent fatally shot local activist Alex Pretti amid disputed circumstances, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie took to Twitter/X to reaffirm his city’s sanctuary policies.
In San Francisco, especially in communities that are already enduring the painful impact of aggressive federal immigration enforcement, many of us are feeling fear and anger as we witness the horrific events unfolding in Minneapolis. Yesterday San Franciscans, as they have done…
— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) January 25, 2026
Lurie’s statement emphasized that SFPD would prioritize public safety over assisting federal immigration enforcement like ICE, framing increased police presence ahead of Super Bowl week and Lunar New Year as protective rather than collaborative. This rhetoric echoes the mayor’s October 2025 phone call with President Trump, where he successfully pleaded for a pause on surging federal agents into San Francisco. While Lurie falsely touted this as a “victory” for the city’s recovery, his ongoing resistance to federal agencies like ICE and DHS represents a reckless gamble, one that endangers public safety, fiscal stability, and political standing. By foolishly doubling down on the city’s long-standing sanctuary defiance, Lurie is playing with fire in an era of intensified national immigration enforcement, inviting a backlash that could scorch San Francisco’s already fragile progress.
Mayor Lurie’s sanctuary stance actively undermines public safety by obstructing federal agencies tasked with immigration enforcement. His post today reassures immigrants that SFPD won’t assist ICE, but this policy has drawn sharp rebukes for shielding criminal elements. Supervisors from immigrant-dense districts criticized Lurie’s selective calls for more federal involvement in fentanyl crackdowns, fearing it invites broader ICE overreach. Protesters last July 2025 slammed his “tepid” response to ICE raids, accusing him of policing demonstrators while protecting federal agents in a self-proclaimed sanctuary city. By drawing a false firewall between local and federal roles, Lurie ignores how undocumented networks contribute to San Francisco’s drug crisis, as fentanyl overdoses remain rampant and open-air markets in the Tenderloin and South of Market (SoMa) neighborhoods linked to transnational cartels.
The mayor’s November 2025 Twitter/X posts highlight collaborations with federal partners for drug ops, yet he rejects military or ICE support outright.
This cherry-picking is foolish: resisting comprehensive enforcement allows repeat offenders to exploit sanctuary loopholes, endangering residents. In a post-2024 Trump era of mass deportations, Lurie’s defiance will provoke a retaliatory surge, turning symbolic resistance into real chaos during high-profile events like the Super Bowl.
Economically, Lurie’s approach is equally shortsighted, gambling with the city’s fiscal health amid federal pressures. His December 2025 Twitter/X post lamented budget strains from “federal actions,” including SNAP disruptions from a government shutdown. Yet by pleading with Trump to halt federal deployments, citing economic recovery, Lurie tacitly admits sanctuary policies invite punitive measures, such as withheld grants. Progressive critics of Lurie contend he gave Trump too much leverage in the phone call, offering vague assurances of progress without securing lasting protections, potentially exacerbating downtown decay and continued business flight. With revenues weakly rebounding but always vulnerable, continued resistance by Lurie, and city hall officials, risks deeper cuts.
Politically, Lurie is isolating San Francisco in a polarized landscape. His October executive directive bolstering immigrant support amid anticipated enforcement escalations positions the city as a staunchly defiant outlier. Lurie’s celebrating the Trump phone call as proof of influence ignores the administration’s history of abrupt reversals. By “playing with fire,” he courts a federal inferno: renewed deployments, legal battles, or even military intervention, as was nearly the case in October. And Trump again promises to withhold payments to sanctuary cities like San Francisco, this time February 1st, 2026.
Mayor Lurie’s persistent resistance to federal law enforcement is not bold leadership but rather a foolish brinkmanship. It jeopardizes safety by harboring threats, strains finances through avoidable conflicts, and risks political isolation; the city’s strength lies in collaboration, not confrontation. Lurie must extinguish this risky stance without delay.
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Hmmm…underneath the surface of SF politics revolution lurks, like in Minnesota. I can imagine the resistance to ICE will be fierce, and Lurie knows that. Mayor Frey in MInneapolis is doing exactly the wrong thing- outright resistance, but Lurie may learn a lesson or two by attempting to walk a line between these imposing forces.
IMO the best thing a Democrat Mayor can do is follow the lead of the Democrat Mayor of Memphis. ICE was there for three days, removed criminal illegals and then left.
Mr Greenberg:
The sheer numbers of vagrants extended by the treatment and if possible rehabilitation costs mathematically force the conclusion SFO SAC LAX and now SDO have transitioned to shanty towns to be so forever.
Notice the “little boy” mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria has rolled over and accepted San Diego’s demise.
The precursor to this was the fire sale prices of closure once premier biz properties recently fetched in San Diego.Property valuations and sale 50% of five years ago for a La jolla hotel property preceded by the Irvine Company bailing on two downtown properties at 50% the price paid twenty years ago.
Newsom’s and his cohorts so craftily created and implemented the plan and supportive momentum to collapse California: While you and your likes became exuberant about the next election; BTW that was rigged.
Leave SFO now and while you can.
The folks in control inundate the peons with unsolvable problems and despair.
Who knows, Donald Trump, his WEF bud Larry Fink and their buds may have long term plans for SFO’s vistas.
Anybody of a sane mind should be terrified of Fink and Blackrock. Donald Trump’s history with Fink is defining and foreboding for America.
Anybody of a sane mind who had done their research would know that President Trump and Larry Fink are NOT WEF buds.
President Trump has consistently positioned himself as an opponent of globalism, particularly in relation to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its globalist agenda. He has rejected the label of “globalist” and instead promoted “America First” policies, emphasizing economic nationalism and sovereignty. President Trump Trump’s relationship with the WEF has been adversarial. While he attended Davos in 2018 and 2020, his appearances were used to challenge the forum’s core values, criticizing climate initiatives and global governance. In 2026 he spoke at the WEF again, but not as a participant in the globalist framework—rather, as a critic reinforcing national sovereignty and economic protectionism
In contrast, Larry Fink is a lifelong Democrat who supported Biden in the 2020 election and laughably called Biden the “voice of reason.” Larry Fink has been a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) board for several years prior to his appointment as interim co-chairman. Fink has emphasized that BlackRock continues to engage with companies on decarbonization, corporate governance, and social issues.
Eyeinthesky is a DIMWIT. Eyeinthesky is probably even on Gov. Gavin “Hair-gel Hitler” Newsom’s payroll?
Put full amnesty for all illegals on the ballot, Democrats. Stop playing games.
You are only a few months away from a lawful election, that can settle this issue peacefully. Why are you only pouring gasoline in support of the nut cases that are destroying your own party.? Why are you showing fear of the ballot box.
Americans don’t want full amnesty for illegals. In fact, the majority of Americans went the illegals gone, ALL OF THEM.
I agree, however the question that develops is: Who’s going to perform the jobs the white trash and blacks refuse to engage?
Not once during my daily travels through Orange County have I seen a Mexican/Central American flaunt a handicapped placard.
At my place of employment we have forty experienced well paid precion machinists: Thirty of them are Hispanics and were not hired because they work cheap: Rather they’re the ones who wanted to work and learn a skill. Each of them OWN a home in Orange County???
White trash? Eyeinthesky is not only a dimwit, but a racist dimwit!
Eyeinthesky brags that 30 of the 40 machinists are Hispanic at his place of business which is curious when Hispanics are about 34% of Orange County’s population. It sounds like there is probably hiring discrimination going on at that place of business? How many of those machinists are illegal aliens that are working for less money than machinists who are U.S. citizens would make?
Eyeinthesky, what’s the name of your business? Maybe ICE needs to make a visit.
Ever since we had the sanctuary law debacle, we have increased illegal aliens, cartel presence all over the state, sex trafficking, slave labor trafficking, child trafficking, drug trafficking, increased illegal pot farms by the cartels, and this is what democrats like Newsom and Lurie are protecting. American citizens are at the back of the line while we pay for everything.
Then there’s the Republicans who failed to hold George Bush accountable for the death of 4,500 plus military personnel persuant to the Iraq War. Relatives of what Bush and cohorts considered fodder were America’s finest: Their families continue to grieve however nobody cares.
The elected politicians are never held accountable,never!
This article by Richie Greenberg is about San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie reaffirming the San Francisco’s illegal alien sanctuary policies that were put in place by the criminal Democrat thug mafia that controls the city.
Instead of addressing the article, Eyeinthesky is whining about George Bush who left office in 2009.
Eyeinthesky is a dimwit who probably works for Gov. Gavin “Hair-gel Hitler” Newsom and is getting payoffs from the criminal Democrat thug mafia.