(Los Angeles) The organization of the Los Angeles Dodgers said Thursday that it has asked Federal Immigration Agents to leave the stadium after their arrival on a parking lot near one of the doors.
Dozens of federal agents, their masked face, have arrived aboard SUVs and vans on parking near the stadium E. A group of demonstrators carrying signs against immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to come together shortly after, local media reported.
“This morning, ICE agents went to the stadium and asked for authorization to access the parking lots. The organization refused them the entry, ”said the team in a press release published on X.
The ICE indicated on X that its agents were never present.
Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Internal Security, stressed that the agents belonged to customs and border protection and that they were not trying to enter the stadium.
“It had nothing to do with the Dodgers. Vehicles (customs and border protection) remained briefly on the stadium parking, without any link with any operation or control, “she said in an email.
According to the team, the match against the Padres of San Diego, later scheduled for Thursday, would be played as planned.
The television cameras showed that around four agents had stayed on parking Thursday afternoon, while Los Angeles police officers stood between them and dozens of demonstrators, some bearing signs on which we could read “I like my ice (ICE) pounded” and chanting “Ice, outside Los Angeles! ».
Municipal councilor Eunisses Hernandez arrived at the stadium and explained that she was in contact with the officials of the Dodgers and the town hall.
The demonstrations began on June 6 after the arrest of dozens of workers by the federal immigration services in Los Angeles. The following days, demonstrators blocked a main and burned motorway from cars. Police retaliated with tear gas, rubber bullets and deafening grenades.
The team has not yet made a statement concerning these arrests and searches.
The mainly Latin supporters of the Dodgers made pressure to make the team a public declaration and triggered an online debate on their position in the face of the repression of immigration to Los Angeles.
The Trump administration has mobilized more than 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Navies, despite objections of city and state leaders. Dozens of soldiers now keep federal buildings and protect federal agents who arrests.
The demonstrations were mainly concentrated in the center of this city of approximately 4 million inhabitants. Thousands of people gathered peacefully in front of the town hall and hundreds of others demonstrated in front of a federal complex including a detention center where immigrants are held following searches in their workplace.
Despite the demonstrations, the activities of the immigration services continued throughout the county. Municipal elected officials and local associations have reported the presence of ICE in libraries, washing stations and Home Depot stores. In Los Angeles, graduation ceremonies have been reinforced for fear of an intervention by the ICE, and some establishments offered parents to follow them on Zoom.
