Lurie Tiptoes Around Trump as SF Leaders Challenge Executive Orders

San Francisco’s Mayor Daniel Lurie has been cautious on matters relating to President Donald Trump, diverging from his predecessor and other Democrats, leading opposition to federal attacks on immigrants, transgender rights and other issues close to many San Franciscans.

This has left local government officials like City Attorney David Chiu to lead legal challenges against Trump.

“Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise to target our immigrant communities, which is tragic on many, many levels and will not only end up ripping apart families but will be detrimental to our local economy,” Chiu said on KQED’s Political Breakdown. “This is very personal to me.

“I’m the first kid in my family born to my immigrant parents. I know how personal it is to so many San Franciscans and Californians who are immigrants or the kids of immigrants.”

Trump issued a slew of executive orders immediately after his inauguration on Monday, including attempting to end birthright citizenship, erasing transgender identity and pulling the country out of international collaborations such as the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.

Lurie has repeatedly stated that he supports the city’s sanctuary policy and has vowed to protect immigrants, LGBTQ+ rights and other issues Trump has targeted. But Lurie has barely uttered Trump’s name, whether at his mayoral inauguration speech or during his address on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which coincided with Trump’s inauguration.

Meanwhile, several San Francisco representatives have decried Trump’s orders. On Tuesday, Chiu announced that the city would join California State Attorney General Rob Bonta and 17 other states in a lawsuit to block Trump’s order to stop recognizing birthright citizenship. That’s in addition to work at the state level, where lawmakers are seeking to allocate more funding for legal services for Californians who the new policies may target.

“(Trump) is immediately taking action to strip U.S. citizens of their citizenship to increase pumping of oil and get rid of electric vehicles,” state Sen. Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco) told KQED. “He pronounced, once again, that trans people don’t exist. And he is just really a disaster for this country… We need to protect California and our democracy from this oligarchy that he is setting up.”

Supervisor Jackie Fielder introduced a resolution reaffirming San Francisco’s sanctuary status, which prohibits the city from allocating local resources and personnel to assist federal immigration officials with deporting people. (The ordinance does not prevent the federal government from conducting legal enforcement.) All 11 members of the Board of Supervisors have said they intend to support the legislation.

Fielder, who represents the Mission District where many Latinx residents live, said she’s heard from constituents who are fearful of their status under Trump’s administration. But she’s not looking to the mayor for proclamations denouncing the president. Fielder said the primary thing Lurie can do is support community groups that work directly with targeted communities.

“My biggest desire from his administration is to have actual resources committed to immigration legal defense so that we can get the 1,200 people off the waitlist for processing their cases,” Fielder told KQED. “This also will allow people who are seeking asylum to get work permits, and that will only help our local economy.”

On Tuesday, the Justice Department issued a memo stating that state and local government officials must cooperate with federal law enforcement carrying out Trump’s executive orders on immigration or face criminal or civil penalties. Lurie responded that San Francisco would both comply with federal law while maintaining its sanctuary city policies.

“I stand with local law enforcement in upholding our policies. Their purpose is not to interfere with lawful federal immigration enforcement,” Lurie said in a statement. “San Francisco is in full compliance with federal law and residents should feel safe interacting with local law enforcement and other city agencies.”

Lurie has not signaled whether he will support Fielder’s resolution, and a spokesperson for his office said he would not comment on proposed resolutions. Rather, Lurie has emphasized that his priorities are improving the city’s streets, closing down drug markets and building shelter and housing to address local issues.

Wiener acknowledged that Lurie has taken a different approach than himself or other high-profile Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom when it comes to responding to Trump.

“The mayor has a big task ahead in terms of taking San Francisco into the future, and he needs to be focused like a laser on the huge problems we have here,” Wiener said. “I know that he will do that, but I know he’s going to be with us when we need to defend our community.”

Political consultant David Ho said Lurie’s softer approach reminds him of the late Mayor Ed Lee, who led the city during Trump’s first term. However, it contrasts starkly with former Mayor London Breed, who often took a stronger position.

“I’d be surprised if Lurie’s administration doesn’t carve out a louder response” to Trump’s orders on immigration, Ho said, noting that it would deeply affect the Chinese American community that Lurie fought hard to win votes from on the campaign trail. “People forget the first federal law to target an entire ethnicity was the Chinese Exclusion Act.”

However, with the city facing a nearly billion-dollar deficit, Lurie is walking a fine line to ensure San Francisco receives federal funding for affordable housing.

“Can you imagine if HUD withheld funding from San Francisco? That would be a housing catastrophe,” Ho said. “We’re talking about bread and butter issues here. Politicians and communities will have to band together and figure out which core issues they want to go to war over with the new administration.”

Jim Ross, a progressive political consultant, said Lurie’s position — or lack thereof — opens space for other politicians to step up.

“This creates an opportunity for Chiu or Wiener and others to make a name for themselves,” Ross said. “It gives them an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and that they’re going to protect these communities that are under attack.”

He added: “But it also does create a real contrast with the mayor’s silence.”