Dodgers Prevent ICE Access to Stadium Parking Amid Protests

Dodgers Ask ICE Agents to Leave Dodger Stadium

The Los Angeles Dodgers organization announced this Thursday that it requested U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to leave the Dodger Stadium premises, after they showed up in a parking lot near one of the entrances. According to reports, dozens of federal agents with their faces covered arrived in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and cargo vans at a parking lot adjacent to Gate E of the stadium. A group of protesters, carrying signs against ICE, began to gather shortly after, according to local media reports.

“This morning, ICE agents arrived at Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. The organization denied them entry to the facilities,” the Dodgers team stated in a statement published on X.

Tricia McLaughlin, Deputy Secretary, clarified that the agents did not attempt to enter the stadium.

“This had nothing to do with the Dodgers. [Customs and Border Protection] vehicles were in the stadium parking lot for a very brief time, unrelated to any law enforcement operation or application,” McLaughlin said in an email.

The image shows protesters protesting near masked federal agents who were outside a gate at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. The Dodgers issued a statement saying that ICE federal agents requested permission to access the stadium parking lots, but were denied entry. The team confirmed that Thursday’s game against the San Diego Padres would take place as planned. Television cameras captured about four agents remaining in the parking lot on Thursday afternoon, while officers from the Los Angeles Police Department stood between them and dozens of protesters, some of whom carried signs with messages like “I like my crushed ice” and chanted “ICE out of LA!” Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez arrived at the stadium and communicated that she had been in contact with Dodgers officials and the mayor’s office.

“We’ve been in communication with the mayor’s office, with the Dodgers, with Dodgers security, to see if they can have them removed from their private property,” he told KABC-TV. “Public property is different. Private property, businesses, and corporations have the power to say, ‘Not on my property.’ And we’re waiting to see that move happen here.”

The protests began on June 6, after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major highway and set fire to cars in the following days, and the police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades.

The Trump administration activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 marines, despite objections from state and municipal leaders. Dozens of troops now guard federal buildings and federal agents who make arrests. The demonstrations have mainly concentrated in the city center, which has a population of around 4 million inhabitants. Thousands of people have gathered peacefully in front of City Hall and hundreds more protested in front of a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are located after the workplace raids. Despite protests, immigration law enforcement activity has continued throughout the county, with city leaders and community groups reporting the presence of ICE in libraries, car washes, and Home Depots. School graduations in Los Angeles have increased security for fear of ICE actions and some have offered parents the option of watching them via Zoom.