Singer performs US national anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium: ‘Felt like I needed to'

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Singer and social media personality Nezza performed the national anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, despite being told beforehand she was expected to sing it in English.
'So we are going to do it in English today. I'm not sure if that was relayed,' an official can be heard saying in a video Nezza posted on social media. Instead, she chose to sing the Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish — a version originally commissioned in 1945.
In a video posted to TikTok, Nezza shared an emotional explanation: 'I just felt like I needed to do it. Para mi gente,' she said. 'Safe to say I'm never allowed in that stadium ever again.'
The performance came during heightened tension in Los Angeles surrounding recent ICE activity, with some residents urging high-profile organizations, like the Dodgers, to speak out — and others urging them to stay silent.
'I don't feel like they should [speak out],' fan Yvonne Esquivel told Nexstar's KTLA. 'Keep sports sports. And when it's a community-action type of response, then let the community speak.'
'You know, you have differences on both sides, and I think [the Dodgers] should remain neutral,' said another fan, Walter Jones. 'Everybody has an opinion, and I think personally, when it comes to sports, it's sports.'
Others disagree.
'We are really disappointed that the Dodgers, given their influence in the city and their importance to the culture, haven't said anything publicly about the horrors that people are going through,' said Mike Hurst, a longtime fan.
The team has not released an official statement regarding the protests or ICE raids, but did clarify that fan misconduct will not be tolerated. During a recent game, a spectator was removed from the stands for holding an anti-ICE sign, prompting both boos and cheers from the crowd.
Dodgers utility player Kiké Hernández addressed the issue on social media, writing: 'This is my second home, and I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.'
Manager Dave Roberts, when asked by the Los Angeles Times, said: 'I just hope that we can be a positive distraction for what people are going through in Los Angeles right now.'

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As Gabriela crossed the stage at her kindergarten graduation in Chicago, she scanned the audience, desperately searching for a familiar face. But her mother was nowhere to be found. Still, wearing a pink dress and ballerina flats, Gabriela, 6, smiled and twirled around holding a bouquet on her way home. An older neighbor who sometimes cares for her walked by her side. Just a week earlier, on June 4, her mother, Wendy Sarai Pineda, 39, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside an office in downtown Chicago during what was supposed to be a routine check-in, while Gabriela was at school. The little girl doesn't understand why her mother vanished and had hoped her mother would be at her graduation, said Camerino Gomez, Pineda's fiance. 'I told her that she went to get some paperwork ready so that they can be together in Honduras,' Gomez, 55, said. 'And that I will take her to be with her soon.' But Gomez doesn't know if that's even possible. 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'Instead, she wasn't allowed to leave.'Masked federal agents pulled Pineda and more than a dozen others from the ICE office and loaded them into unmarked white vans as relatives watched, many in tears. She is now being held in Kentucky, awaiting deportation. Many of the detained that day were parents who had been complying with check-ins for years, said Antonio Gutierrez, co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations. The parents, he said, are desperate to know how their children are doing. Most have been sleeping on the floor at the detention center because of overcrowding, according to Gladis Yolanda Chavez, another immigrant mother who was detained June 4. There is no clear data on the number of children who have been left behind. Their ages range from newborns to high schoolers. In past administrations, immigrants would be given some time to purchase plane tickets back to their home countries and then escorted to the airport, Drew said. 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After more than two weeks, ICE has been unresponsive, Drew said. Though Gomez has tried to reach out to the Honduran Consulate in Chicago and other organizations, he has gotten little to no response. 'What do I do if Gaby gets sick, if she needs something that requires her parents to be here?' he said. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which intervenes only in cases of abuse or neglect, said in a statement that it works with families regardless of immigration status. If a child is found to be neglected and a parent is detained or deported, the agency aims to place them with relatives and reunify them with their parents, sometimes with the help of foreign consulates. The Mexican Consulate visits each detainee at the immigration processing center in Broadview before they are transferred to a detention center to provide a power of attorney or custody letter if they have a child in the country. Other countries, however, do not have that type of structure. Due to the political turmoil, Venezuela, for example, does not have a consulate in the United from the Resurrection Project, urges families to create an emergency family plan that includes discussing with a loved one who can care for the children if the caregiver is detained, and having the necessary documents ready for family reunification. The situation can be even more complicated when parents in the country without legal permission have U.S.-born children, said Jacqueline Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern University who studies deportation enforcement. Some parents may choose to leave the child in the U.S., even if they are sent to another country, for safety, stability or the promise of a better future. Every situation is different, Stevens added. 'Nobody chooses their country of birth. Nobody chooses their parents,' she said. Gaby didn't choose to be in the U.S. with someone she had only known for a year, said Gomez. Pineda is afraid that in the midst of it all, Gaby will be lost in the system. 'But there's no way she can stay here without her mother,' Drew said. 'She needs to be reunited with her.' Different community groups have collaborated with Chicago Public Schools to create 'sanctuary teams' to help alleviate the anxiety and stress experienced by kids by providing essential resources for families, including medical assistance, clothing, food and mental health support. Some educators expressed concern to the Tribune about that support being cut off during the summer months. Other groups use school buildings as spaces to meet even through the summer, said Vanessa Trejo, a school-based clinician with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council. During the school year, Trejo worked with a boy whose mom was also detained and deported by ICE. She said it directly affected his ability to focus in class. Trejo met with the student twice a day. He would cry and they would play games. 'I try to sit with him. Just having a physical being around is huge,' Trejo student, who was born in the U.S., was in the process of obtaining his passport so he could be with his mother, she said. As for Gaby, her future is uncertain, Gomez said. Her mother is still in detention, and there is no timeline for when or where she'll be deported. Let alone when she'll see Gaby again. In the meantime, Gaby spends her days with an elderly neighbor, Maria Ofelia Ponce, 74, while Gomez is at work. Other times, Gomez's older daughter and his brother's family help take care of her. 'It breaks my heart to see her alone. To not know what will happen to her,' Ponce said. At Gaby's graduation, as mothers in dresses held their children in their graduation gowns, Gaby's family had a small gathering to celebrate her, hoping to help her feel loved.