During an extraordinary show of force at the Los Angeles Immigration Community Center on Monday, dozens of immigrant agents, some riding horses, others carrying rifles.
Armored Border Patrol officers with a fleet of white minibus partially blocked the streets around the park, which has become a source of crime and drugs in the area over the past few years. Police sources said activists with megaphones were able to warn locals before the contingent arrived.
The move comes days after President Trump signed the budget, which would provide substantial funding to the Department of Homeland Security to raise its immigration enforcement to levels previously unseen in the United States. Los Angeles has become a poster child for Trump’s public deportation program, as more than 1,600 people have been arrested between June 6 and 22.
After amassing nearby, agents appeared to arrive around 10:30 am. Once they were in the park, they would meet a lot of people screaming “Take out the f!” and “Get out!” Mayor Karen Bass also appeared in the park west of downtown Los Angeles. The activists who have been on high alert for weeks seem ready to deploy their lawyers to the scene.
At some point, assistant chief patrol agent David Kim handed the phone to the bass. She could hear her say, “Are you going to leave? Can you leave as soon as possible?”
The protesters began to shout, drowning her conversation. When asked to comment, Bass said federal immigration agents needed to “leave, they need to leave now, they need to leave because that’s unacceptable.”
When asked who to talk to the other end of the online, she said it was “customs chief.”
Bass handed over the phone to the U.S. Border Patrol agent. Shortly thereafter, she boarded a black SUV and left the area.
It is not clear whether anyone was arrested during the sweep.
“It’s just an unjust propaganda stunt,” said Ron Gochez, a member of Unión del Barrio, an independent political organization that advocates immigration rights and social justice. “It’s just for displaying power, just for taking pictures.”
The chaos at Wilshire Boulevard around MacArthur Park reached 11:30 a.m., although some protesters and members of the news media have since wandered.
Mikema Nahmir, 28, said he went out for a walk at 11 a.m. when he saw two women yelling “La Migra” in the street at MacArthur Park.
Nahmir joins a group of protesters chasing military-style trucks. He said at one time someone in the truck shot a irritation at him and another protester.
“Los Angeles is ours, it’s our city,” Namir said. “That’s what my morning walk becomes. They’re intimidating our neighbors.”
Live videos broadcast on social media on Monday morning showed a series of white vans used to transport arrested persons and several agents riding horses. Agents cleared the scene before 11:20 a.m. and it is unclear how many people they were detained.
During the operation, Greg Bovino, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Division, led the operation on the ground in Los Angeles.
Bovino, along with others in the Trump administration near the U.S.-Mexico border, was prosecuted by immigration rights groups last week in an attempt to block what it calls “continuous patterns and practices that violate the constitution and federal law” during immigration attacks. They say the attack is based on race, lacking due process targeting individuals, and some practices are similar to kidnapping rather than legal enforcement. A hearing will be held in federal court later this week.
“We do not comment on ongoing law enforcement operations,” said senior DHS official when asked if any arrests have been arrested.
