{"id":46862,"date":"2025-07-07T20:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T20:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/46862\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T20:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T20:31:11","slug":"national-guard-protect-immigration-officers-in-los-angeles-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/46862\/","title":{"rendered":"National Guard protect immigration officers in Los Angeles operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear and about 90 members of the California National Guard<\/a> were deployed for about an hour Monday to a mostly empty park in a Los Angeles neighborhood with a large immigrant population. It wasn\u2019t immediately known if any arrests were made.<\/p>\n

Defense officials had said the troops and over a dozen military vehicles would help protect immigration officers as they carried out a raid in MacArthur Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mayor Karen Bass was among the small crowd who watched as officers moved through a section of the park in the late morning and then got back in the vehicles and cleared out. Some activists who had earlier warned people to leave the area filmed the officers. <\/p>\n

The mayor planned an afternoon news conference about the operation. Messages were sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking additional details.<\/p>\n

Jeannette Zanipatin with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights saw the brief but prominent presence of troops and federal officers at the park. \u201cI definitely think it\u2019s a source of intimidation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that the Trump administration is trying to make an example of Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The operation in the large park about 2 miles 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<\/a> and active duty Marines to the city last month following protests over previous immigration raids<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Federal<\/p>\n

Federal agents stage at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)<\/p>\n

Federal agents stage at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

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\u2019s military might<\/a> in ways other U.S. presidents have typically avoided.<\/p>\n

Betsy Bolte, who lives nearby, came to the park after seeing a military-style helicopter circling. She arrived to see federal officers on horseback moving through a grassy area, with activists and passersby shouting at them. <\/p>\n

Bolte didn\u2019t see any arrests and said it was \u201cgut-wrenching\u201d to witness what appeared to be a federal show of force on the streets of a U.S. city. \u201cIt\u2019s terror and, you know, it\u2019s ripping the heart and soul out of Los Angeles,\u201d she said. \u201cI am still in shock, disbelief, and so angry and terrified and heartbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defense officials told reporters that it was not a military operation but acknowledged that the size and scope of the Guard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just going to be more overt and larger than we usually participate in,\u201d one of the officials said after the raid ended abruptly with no explanation.<\/p>\n

The primary role of the service members would be to protect the immigration enforcement officers in case a hostile crowd gathered, that official said. They are not participating in any law enforcement activities such as arrests, but service members can temporarily detain citizens<\/a> if necessary before handing them over to law enforcement, the official said. <\/p>\n

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 \u201cEllis Island of the West Coast.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass talks on her mobile phone next to a border patrol federal agent at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass talks on her mobile phone next to a border patrol federal agent at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

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 unlicensed food stands selling tacos and other delicacies, along with vendors speaking multiple languages and hawking cheap T-shirts, toys, knickknacks and household items.<\/p>\n

Authorities routinely clear encampments and medical outreach teams tend to homeless residents.<\/p>\n

More than 4,000 California National Guard and hundreds of U.S. Marines have been deployed in Los Angeles since June \u2014 against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last week, the military announced about 200 of those troops would be returned<\/a> to their units to fight wildfires. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Christopher Weber and Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles and Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear and about 90 members of the California…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[9600,36349,1582,2059,276,69,1854,57,2055,409,5413,2961,224,5337,8132,80,8958,25731,61,370,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-46862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-activism","9":"tag-betsy-bolte","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-ca-state-wire","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-government-and-politics","17":"tag-immigration","18":"tag-karen-bass","19":"tag-la","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-military-and-defense","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-spain-government","25":"tag-u-s-department-of-defense","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-united-states-government","28":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114813855041378542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}