Federal Enforcement Is Here Because Oakland Leadership Failed
BY: THE rethink Oakland Team
- Federal action did not appear out of nowhere — it filled the void left by failed leadership.
News/Opinion
Federal immigration agents are arriving in the Bay Area this week in what multiple reports describe as a major enforcement operation. The immediate response from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee was predictable — condemn the operation, frame it as an attack on Bay Area values, and insist that federal action is the problem. But the more honest reading is simpler: federal enforcement is stepping in because local leadership has refused to enforce the law themselves.
For years, Oakland and San Francisco officials have built their politics around symbolism instead of outcomes. Public safety was treated as a political liability, not a basic obligation. The federal government does not send hundreds of agents into a region that is functioning — it intervenes where dysfunction has been allowed to deepen.
And while the loudest critics are calling this operation “cruel,” working people in Oakland know a different reality. Residents in East Oakland, West Oakland, and neighborhoods in the city like the Mission are the ones living with the consequences of non-enforcement — not the activists, not the city hall staffers, not the donors, not the commentators. Enforcement is not cruelty. Neglect is. Neglect is what leaves families afraid to walk home, businesses afraid to stay open, and entire neighborhoods left to absorb the fallout of decisions made by leaders who never live with the cost.
Mayor Lurie and Mayor Lee are not angry because peaceful communities are at risk — they are angry because federal intervention exposes their failure. Governor Gavin Newsom joined them in attack mode, calling the federal action part of an “authoritarian playbook” designed to provoke chaos and violence, as though enforcement — not their own inaction — is the source of disorder in California. If they and their predecessors had delivered order, accountability, and safety, there would be no vacuum to fill. Their outrage is not moral — it is defensive.
Critics are already repeating familiar lines — but they collapse under further scrutiny.
“This is intimidation, not safety.”
Fear already exists — but not for offenders. Fear exists for the residents who ride buses at night, who close their shops early because of theft, who hesitate before walking to their car. Enforcement does not create fear — it transfers fear back to those who break the law.
“Federal agents are acting unlawfully.”
Immigration enforcement is federal law, upheld by federal courts. Calling law enforcement “fascism” is not an argument — it is a strategy to delegitimize the rule of law itself.
“This targets immigrants, not criminals.”
Federal operations do not randomly sweep working-class families. They prioritize individuals with criminal records, prior deportation orders, or known gang affiliations. Erasing that distinction is dishonest.
“This will erode community trust.”
Trust was not lost because of enforcement — it was lost because residents watched government excuse chaos for years. People lose trust when leaders refuse to protect them, not when someone finally does.
“This is meant to provoke chaos.” (Governor Newsom’s claim)
The governor warns that enforcement will invite vandalism and violence, but the chaos is already here — under his watch, not Washington’s. It is not enforcement that provokes instability, it is the vacuum created when leaders refuse to enforce the law.
If this operation produces even a fraction of the safety local leaders failed to deliver, it will show that order is still possible when someone is willing to enforce it. That alone is a reason for hope.
But hope is not automatic. A turning point only becomes a turning point if residents refuse to fall back into silence when the headlines fade. If The Town wants better, its people must begin demanding better — publicly, loudly, and without apology.
Federal agents leaving will not fix Oakland. New laws will not fix Oakland. Only pressure from residents — sustained and unignorable — will force leadership to act before outsiders have to intervene again. If Oakland wants outsiders gone, Oakland’s leaders must start protecting this community with the same urgency outsiders are showing now — because the people who live here deserve that protection.
Oakland is not beyond repair — but it will not fix itself. Decline is not destiny unless we agree to live with it. If The Town is going to recover, it will be because its residents finally refused to accept excuses, refused to stay quiet, and forced leadership to deliver results instead of rhetoric.
No more pretending. No more excuses.
