Various federal officers in tactical gear, backed by 90 California Nationwide Guard members and a convoy of 17 Humvees, stormed Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park on Monday (July 7) in a shock immigration operation that left residents shocked and officers outraged.
For roughly an hour, troops swept by means of the principally empty park — situated in a dense immigrant neighborhood west of downtown — in what officers described as a present of safety for immigration enforcement brokers. It stays unclear if any arrests have been made.
“This morning appeared like a staging for a TikTok video,” stated Los Angeles Metropolis Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “If Border Patrol needs to movie in LA, you must apply for a movie allow like all people else — and cease attempting to scare the bejesus out of all people.”
Mayor slams ‘metropolis below siege’
Mayor Karen Bass condemned the present of drive as “a political stunt,” visibly shaken as she described the impression on households within the park.
“What I noticed within the park right now appeared like a metropolis below siege, below armed occupation,” Bass stated.
“The world must see the troop formation on horses strolling by means of the park… the place the kids play.”
She added {that a} frightened 8-year-old boy attending a close-by day camp advised her he feared ICE brokers.
Native leaders decry concentrating on of immigrant neighborhoods
The raid befell in a neighborhood lengthy identified for its vibrant immigrant group — dubbed by officers because the “Ellis Island of the West Coast” for its focus of Mexican, Central American, and Asian households.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district consists of the park, stated the realm was focused “exactly due to who lives there and what it represents.”
Well being outreach staff reported being confronted at gunpoint by federal officers whereas working with homeless residents. Distributors and locals fled the realm as helicopters circled overhead and mounted items swept soccer fields.
“It’s terror and, you realize, it’s ripping the center and soul out of Los Angeles,” stated Betsy Bolte, a close-by resident who rushed to the scene. “I’m nonetheless in shock, disbelief, and so offended and terrified and heartbroken.”
Operation escalates Trump’s deportation drive
President Donald Trump, who deployed hundreds of troops and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles final month, has accelerated efforts to meet his pledge of mass deportations. Monday’s raid follows a wave of immigration arrests and a hardline stance towards so-called “sanctuary cities.”
“This isn’t about going after harmful criminals,” stated California Governor Gavin Newsom. “That is about destroying the material of this state.”
Newsom known as the army deployment a “spectacle” that undermines California’s values and autonomy.
‘A actuality TV spectacle’
Authorized advocates say the raid felt extra like a media stunt than a severe enforcement motion.
“This was a actuality TV spectacle far more so than an precise enforcement operation,” stated Chris Newman, authorized director for the Nationwide Day Laborer Organizing Community.
“The ghost town-ification of LA is haunting, to say the very least.”
Federal officers claimed the troops have been there to guard immigration officers from potential unrest, to not make arrests — although they admitted the operation would possibly “appear like” a army maneuver.
