Troops and federal agents briefly descend on LA's MacArthur Park in
largely immigrant neighborhood
[July 08, 2025]
By TARA COPP and CHRISTOPHER WEBER
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal officers and National Guard troops fanned out
around a mostly empty Los Angeles park in a largely immigrant
neighborhood on foot, horseback and military vehicles on Monday for
about an hour before abruptly leaving, an operation that local officials
said seemed designed to sow fear.
The Department of Homeland Security wouldn't say whether anyone had been
arrested during the brief operation at MacArthur Park. Federal officials
did not respond to requests for comment about why the park was targeted
or why the raid ended abruptly.
About 90 members of the California National Guard were present to
protect immigration officers, defense officials said.
“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under
armed occupation,” said Mayor Karen Bass, who showed up at the park
alongside activists.
She said there were children attending a day camp in the park who were
quickly ushered inside to avoid seeing the troops. Still, Bass said an
8-year-old boy told her that “he was fearful of ICE.”
Federal officers descend on MacArthur Park
The operation occurred at a park in a neighborhood with large Mexican,
Central American and other immigrant populations and is lined by
businesses with signs in Spanish and other languages that has been
dubbed by local officials as the “Ellis Island of the West Coast.”
Sprawling MacArthur Park has a murky lake ringed by palm trees, an
amphitheater that hosts summer concerts and sports fields where
immigrant families line up to play soccer in the evenings and on
weekends. A thoroughfare on the east side is often crammed with food
stands selling tacos and other delicacies, along with vendors speaking
multiple languages and hawking T-shirts, toys, knickknacks and household
items.
Among those who spoke with Bass were health care outreach workers who
were working with homeless residents Monday when troops pointed guns at
them and told them to get out of the park.
Photos show federal officers riding on horseback toward a mostly empty
soccer field. Other heavily armed authorities stood guard around the
area alongside armored vehicles.
“The world needs to see the troop formation on horses walking through
the park, in search of what? In search of what? They’re walking through
the area where the children play,” Bass said.
Eunisses Hernandez, a council member whose district includes MacArthur
Park said “it was chosen as this administration’s latest target
precisely because of who lives there and what it represents.”
Operation escalates Trump's immigration crackdown
The operation in the large park about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of downtown
LA included 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and the
armed soldiers, defense officials said. It came after President Donald
Trump deployed thousands of Guard members and active duty Marines to the
city last month following protests over previous immigration raids.
Trump has stepped up efforts to realize his campaign pledge of deporting
millions of immigrants in the United States illegally and shown a
willingness to use the nation’s military might in ways other U.S.
presidents have typically avoided.
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Federal agents ride on and armored vehicle at MacArthur Park Monday,
July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In response to questions about the operation in MacArthur Park, the
Department of Homeland Security said in an email that the agency
would not comment on “ongoing enforcement operations.”
More than 4,000 California National Guard and hundreds of U.S.
Marines have been deployed in Los Angeles since June — against the
wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last week, the military
announced about 200 of those troops would be returned to their units
to fight wildfires.
Newsom called the events at the park “a spectacle.”
Two defense officials told reporters that what happened at MacArthur
Park on Monday was not a military operation but acknowledged that
the size and scope of the Guard’s participation could make it look
like one to the public. That is why the officials spoke on condition
of anonymity to provide details about the raid that were not
announced publicly. The primary role of the service members would be
to protect the immigration enforcement officers in case a hostile
crowd gathered, one of the officials said.
“It’s just going to be more overt and larger than we usually
participate in,” that official said.
Local officials say feds are sowing fear
“This morning looked like a staging for a TikTok video,” said
Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Los Angeles City Council,
adding if Border Patrol wants to film in LA, “you should apply for a
film permit like everybody else. And stop trying to scare the
bejesus out of everybody who lives in this great city and disrupt
our economy every day.”
Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing
Network, said he received a credible tip about the operation Monday.
“It was a demonstration of escalation,” Newman said. “This was a
reality TV spectacle much more so than an actual enforcement
operation.”
Since federal agents have been making arrests at Home Depot parking
lots and elsewhere in Los Angeles, Newman said fewer people have
been going to the park and immigrant neighborhoods near the city’s
downtown.
Betsy Bolte, who lives nearby, came to the park after seeing a
military-style helicopter circling overhead.
She said it was “gut-wrenching” to witness what appeared to be a
federal show of force on the streets of a U.S. city. “It’s terror
and, you know, it’s ripping the heart and soul out of Los Angeles,”
she said. “I am still in shock, disbelief, and so angry and
terrified and heartbroken.”
___
Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Damian
Dovarganes and Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles; Julie Watson in San
Diego; Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; and Amy Taxin in
Orange County, California, contributed to this report.
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