On Thursday afternoon, a swarm of federal agents and Los Angeles police officers descended on MacArthur Park with military vehicles and a loudspeaker warning that those using narcotics would be subject to search and detention.
Within an hour, the park, where clusters of people can typically be seen hunched over smoking fentanyl or passed out on the grass, had been cleared, and 13 people had been arrested, according to L.A. Police Department Capt. Benedict Fernandes.
Those arrests were largely for quality-of-life violations such as being under the influence of narcotics in public, drinking in public and having encampments in the park, he said.
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Officials emphasized, however, that the joint operation is part of a broader and sustained effort to “free MacArthur Park” from the drugs, crime and gang activity that have plagued the recreation site and surrounding working-class community for decades.
Anthony Chrysanthis, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s L.A. office, said Thursday’s sweep was “not a photo op promising overnight change.”
“We’re here today to let everyone know that the change is coming, and we’re committed to doing this,” he said at a news conference following the operation. “You will continue to see decisive enforcement around the park. We mean business.”
An armored vehicle sits outside MacArthur Park.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
MacArthur Park was once considered a crown jewel of Los Angeles but has long been beset by gang violence, drug use and crime. Issues intensified during the pandemic, when it became an epicenter of Los Angeles’ overdose epidemic and an open-air site for fentanyl sale and consumption.
Public officials, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, have made promises to clean up the park in recent years, but critics say overdoses and fentanyl use have remained the norm.
“The local fire department spends much more time trying to revive people [from overdosing] with Narcan that were on death’s door than they do putting out fires in this area,” said L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman. “That is a reality.”
The coalition of leaders from the U.S. attorney’s office, DEA, LAPD and L.A. County district attorney’s office present on Thursday claim that this effort is different.
“Here’s my promise: Labor Day this year, 2026, I am going to come with my family, and I’m going to have a picnic in MacArthur Park,” said Hochman, “because MacArthur Park is going to be safe enough to have that picnic.” He told the public to “get your picnic baskets ready” and urged the mayor and City Council members to join him.
Thursday’s operation comes one month after another sweeping raid was made in the park when federal agents and local authorities arrested 18 people, including two of whom are believed to be key local drug suppliers, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, second from left, speaks at a news conference Thursday in downtown L.A. with Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, left, DEA agent Anthony Chrysanthis and LAPD Assistant Chief Emada Tingirides.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said Thursday’s operation is part of a three-phase effort to reclaim MacArthur Park.
The first phase was to dismantle the leadership of the 18th Street gang, which federal authorities allege controlled the neighborhood as an open-air drug marketplace. In March, 12 alleged associates of the gang were charged in a widespread federal indictment with murder, extortion and drug trafficking in the MacArthur Park area.
The second phase was to go after the dealers and suppliers of narcotics in the neighborhood, which Essayli said was reflected in last month’s arrests at the park. The third and ongoing phase is a consistent law enforcement presence to enforce state law, which prohibits people from being under the influence of narcotics and possessing drugs with the intent to use them.
“That is critical,” he said. “We have to address the demand if we want to clean up the park.”