A Border Patrol official declared on Monday that agents will be sticking around Los Angeles until their “mission is accomplished” as Mayor Karen Bass lashed out at federal law enforcement conducting an apparent immigration sweep at a local park.
Heavily armed officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the military units deployed by President Trump arrived at MacArthur Park in force, with the agents seen carrying rifles and traveling across the grounds on foot, horseback and in armored vehicles.
Bass, who was due to meet with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the morning, showed up in the middle of the operation to yell at the agents to get out of the park, slamming the demonstration as a “political stunt.”
AP
“They need to leave and they need to leave right now!” Bass yelled after getting off the phone with someone coordinating the officers.
“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege,” she told reporters following the confrontation. “It’s outrageous and un-American to have armed vehicles in our American parks.”
Bass was only at the park momentarily after speaking with CBP Assistant Chief Patrol Agent David Kim, who handed her a direct line to “the head of customs,” she added, noting that the agents left moments later.
One Border Patrol official promised that federal agencies aren’t backing down — and had a few choice words for Bass herself.
“The federal government is not leaving LA. … The federal government does not work for Karen Bass. We’re going to be here until that mission is accomplished,” Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino told FOX Los Angeles.
“Better get used to us now because this is going to be normal very soon,” he added.
Bass and members of the LA City Council said the sweep disrupted a children’s summer camp, with the children corralled into a nearby basement while waiting for the agents to leave.
The raid also pushed out members of the St. John’s Community Health Center who were conducting their daily check ups with homeless individuals at the park, officials added.
The mayor also went onto X to vent about the operation at MacArthur, posting time-lapse video of the agents marching across an empty soccer field inside the park.
“Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through,” she said of the raid.
“The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW. Absolutely outrageous,” Bass added.
It remains unclear if anyone was arrested during the sweep, as activists had gone around the park to warn people to leave before the officers marched through, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“I think the goal is to spread fear,” Bass said of Monday’s raid at the park, as she vowed to uphold the city’s status as a sanctuary for immigrants.
