On Monday afternoon, federal border agents and heavily armed troops descended on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles as part of yet another anti-immigration raid, which proved largely inconsequential.
The operation, which involved 90 California National Guard soldiers, 17 military Humvees, four military trucks, and two ambulances, led to the clearing of a summer camp. According to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the sole purpose of the raid seemed to be to “instill fear and terror.”
“To me, this is another example of the administration ratcheting up chaos by deploying what looked like a military operation in an American city,” Bass added. According to a post on X by the Department of Defense, military personnel were deployed in the field to ensure the safety of federal agents.
It was not immediately clear who the military was targeting. Bass posted a video of agents, some on horseback, moving through the mostly empty park.
The mayor said she did not believe there had been no arrests, but reiterated: “I don’t think the goal is to detain. I think the goal is to spread fear. I think that’s what it is. It’s to terrorize Angelenos. It’s to say to immigrants that are in our city of immigrants that they need to stay home, they shouldn’t go to work, they shouldn’t go to school, because we’re coming after you.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom also weighed in on the case, calling the operation “theatrical.”
“What a disgrace, what’s happening in MacArthur Park. What theater. On the six-month anniversary, after all, of these fires — that’s the message from the polluted heart of the President of the United States, the polluted heart of [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller,” he added.
Hours after the raid, federal authorities declined to disclose why they were at the park, what they were looking for, or whether any arrests had been made. Defense officials said the troops were deployed to create a security perimeter to protect federal officers from potentially hostile crowds.
Armed National Guard soldiers were told in advance that they could defend themselves and federal employees if necessary. They could also detain potentially dangerous individuals and hand them over to law enforcement.
Several insiders saw the MacArthur Park raid as the Trump administration’s latest attempt to militarize Los Angeles. Last month, the Californian city was the national epicenter of protests against the blanket arrests carried out by ICE agents since the MAGA leader returned to the White House.
President Trump deployed about 4,700 troops to California earlier this summer under a law known as Title 10, which allows the use of military forces to protect federal personnel and property.
