Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,
After weeks of decrying federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass confronted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on July 7 as they gathered at a city park.
Some 100 ICE agents gathered just before 11 a.m. near MacArthur Park in the Westlake area, about two miles west of City Hall. The officers were in vans and some armored vehicles on the outskirts of the park.
The federal agents were wearing vests, and about a dozen Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were riding horses into the park. They appeared to be staging for deportation activities.
The gathering gained media attention, spurring local activists and protesters to converge on the park.
MacArthur Park is in an area that is home to longstanding criminal street gangs, many affiliated with the Mexican cartels. The park has seen gang shootings, rampant drug use, discarded syringes, homelessness, and people with mental health issues.
Bass, who has repeatedly called for an end to immigration operations in the city, was captured on video arriving at the park before noon surrounded by security officers and walking up to federal officers. Several journalists yelled questions at the mayor as she tried to speak with officers.
One Border Patrol officer called a supervising officer before handing Bass his cellphone.
Bass was seen on news video speaking on the cellphone, saying: “You’re getting ready to leave? OK. Please, can you leave ASAP? What is the issue?”
The Border Patrol agent asked for his phone back from the mayor, telling her he was leaving.
Bass told journalists at the park that the federal law enforcement presence was “unacceptable.”
“They need to leave, and they need to leave right now,” she told reporters.
The agents left apparently without making arrests.
According to Fox News, the CBP official Bass spoke with was Chief Gregory Bovino of the agency’s El Centro Sector. Bovino told Fox News, “I don’t work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.”
People watch Customs and Border Protection agents ride an armored vehicle along Wilshire Boulevard near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles on July 7, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
The mayor, a former community activist and congresswoman, held a press conference with local groups to address the federal immigration operation.
“What happened in MacArthur Park is outrageous and un-American,” Bass posted on social media. “These raids must end.”
Bass was on her way to join a press conference east of Los Angeles in Pasadena with Gov. Gavin Newsom to mark the six-month anniversary of the destructive Palisades and Eaton fires.
Federal agents ride in multiple armored vehicles down Wilshire Boulevard near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles on July 7, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
While en route to the press conference, Bass said, she was alerted that there was an ICE operation at MacArthur Park.
“I turned around, we went to the park,” Bass said.
“To me, this is another example of the [Trump] administration ratcheting up chaos and deploying what looked like a military operation in an American City.”
Bass accused the operation of being a “political agenda provoking fear and terror.”
A children’s summer camp was being held at the park when federal officers arrived, according to the mayor.
“It’s outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks,” she said.
“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation. … The administration is continuing what I have framed as an all-out assault.”
Local activists and protesters have continued demonstrations throughout the region as immigration agents remained focused on the sanctuary city and state.
ICE officials did not immediately return a request for comment about the incident.