The Los Angeles Dodgers say they blocked federal agents from entering their stadium on Thursday, as protests against immigration enforcement continue in the city.
In a post on social media, the baseball team said “ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots”, and were subsequently turned away.
Los Angeles is among the cities where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have ramped up raids to find and deport undocumented migrants.
ICE responded to the Dodgers statement on X: “False. We were never there.”
The Department of Homeland Security too issued a statement saying the agents’ presence at the stadium “had nothing to do with the Dodgers”.
“CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement,” DHS said. It is unclear why the officials were at the stadium.
This comes as Dodgers are expected to announce that they will assist immigrants who have been impacted by the raids in the city, US media report.
No details have been disclosed, but it would be the team’s first official response to the raids.
Dodgers player Kiké Hernández took to Instagram to voice his criticism of the raids on Los Angeles, saying he is “saddened and infuriated by what’s happening in our country and our city”.
“This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart,” he said.
The crackdown in Los Angeles is part of President Donald Trump’s policy to be tougher on immigration.
The move has sparked massive protests, prompting Trump to send 700 US Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area to support the federal response to the unrest.
The raids in America’s second-biggest city are unfolding against the backdrop of an aggressive push to raise arrest and deportation numbers, as the administration has been disappointed with its current pace.
Meanwhile, White House border czar Tom Homan said on Thursday that the Trump administration will resume immigration raids at worksites.
“The message is clear: we’re going to continue conducting worksite enforcement operations, including on farms and in hotels, but on a prioritised basis. Criminals come first,” Homan told reporters.
The statement comes days after DHS announced reversing recent guidance that called for a pause on operations at those places.
