\u201cI am saddened and infuriated by what\u2019s happening in our country and our city,\u201d the Puerto Rican native said in June. <\/p>\n
But some fans demanded a stronger corporate statement against the raids. And it did not help in June when musician Nezza sang the \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d in Spanish<\/a> at Dodger Stadium and later revealed in a TikTok video that she said it was against the wishes of the team\u2019s front office.<\/p>\n Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, believes the Dodgers failed an important test when the city needed the team.<\/p>\n \u201cTo see the Dodgers take such a PR conscious approach to it, seeking not to alienate certain folks while sacrificing other communities has been really dispiriting,\u201d Perez said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen any statements from them specifically calling out the raids, and they certainly have not come out in solidarity with the undocumented population of Los Angeles and the broader Southern California area.\u201d<\/p>\n Perez loves the team and wants to see them win, but his expectations for the Dodgers\u2019 organization have been lowered. His father, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, watched the team play in the 1970s when he arrived in Los Angeles and Perez hopes to take his 5-year-old son to a game next season.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what should be a moment of pure joy is more complicated. Now it\u2019s hard to look at the Dodgers, including specific members of the team who went out to meet with President Trump after he was reelected this past January,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n He hopes that if the Dodgers win and do get invited to go back to the White House, they take the opportunity to speak up about what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n \u201c[Trump] is empowering Border Patrol and ICE agents who are showing up at our schools, at our hospitals, near our churches, at our courts, and destroying our families on a day-to-day basis,\u201d Perez said. \u201cThese are the same families, when you step into any Mexican household in the broader L.A. area, or any kind of immigrant and refugee household, there will be some Dodger swag.\u201d<\/p>\n One bar in Boyle Heights got attention recently for taking its own type of action.<\/p>\n Guillermo Pi\u00f1on, lifelong Dodgers fan, altered a Dodgers\u2019 mural at his Boyle Heights restaurant, Distrito Catorce.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Dodgers were really, really good to me and my family growing up, and I have a lot of awesome memories, but the past is the past,\u201d Pi\u00f1on told the news outlet Boyle Heights Beat<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m going to do the changes that I feel are needed to make sure that our community feels \u2026 honored, respected, and celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n The mural depicts Fernando Valenzuela, Sandy Koufax and announcer Jaime Jarr\u00edn, who was the voice of the Spanish-language Dodgers\u2019 broadcast for over 60 years. <\/p>\n Mural artist Sergio Robleto agreed with Pi\u00f1on and said in an Instagram post<\/a> they plan to update the work to be a \u201creflection of the struggle of the community coming to terms with the realities of ICE raids and their disappointment with how the Dodgers have responded; specifically in regards to their leadership and owner Mark Walter. We love our Dodgers but not the nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n Sergio Robleto\u2019s temporary installation at the Boyle Heights\u2019 restaurant Distrito Catorce shows Dodgers\u2019 player Fernando Valenzuela being detained by a masked federal agent.<\/p>\n (One Goat Media)<\/p>\n He\u2019s installed a temporary piece at the restaurant that shows a masked ICE agent named Walter wearing an L.A. Dodgers cap detaining Valenzuela. Walter is a majority owner of the Dodgers, as CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and has also partial ownership of the Los Angeles Sparks, Chelsea FC of the English Premier League and multiple auto racing teams.<\/p>\n Robleto doesn\u2019t blame anyone outside of the Dodgers leadership but wants to hear from the players.<\/p>\n \u201cThey do have voices, and they could, they could speak up on behalf of like the situation,\u201d he told The Times in an interview. \u201cThere\u2019s disappointment with the leadership, because of everything with the ICE raids and immigration and more importantly the traumatic events people are going through. Whether they\u2019re being profiled or being dealt with in a way that doesn\u2019t feel like their rights are even being acknowledged.\u201d<\/p>\n He plans to update the mural later this year, one that will acknowledge the people and communities of Los Angeles. <\/p>\n The Dodgers did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n The team has a long, complicated history with its Latino community, one that started before the team moved to Los Angeles. In the 1960s, the city displaced multiple communities, predominantly made up of Mexican American residents<\/a>, to make way for the stadium. But the team has become a favorite of the city\u2019s Latino community, a bond cemented with the rise of Valenzuela in the 1980s.<\/a> <\/p>\n Some have expressed sympathy for team leadership for being thrust into a political maelstrom not of their making. Some local teams such as Los Angeles Football Club<\/a> and Angel City Football Club have spoken out against<\/a> raids. But Lakers, Clippers and Rams have not.<\/p>\n Outside the Shortstop Bar in Echo Park, Maria Baldonado feels a similar pang of pride for the team that doesn\u2019t seem to recognize the moment. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t blame the players, because that\u2019s not their job,\u201d she said as fans inside the bar cheered while up the street the team played at Chavez Ravine. \u201cIt hurts that so many fans show up sporting flags from all these Latin American countries. They see us.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n