The Dodgers say ICE tried to enter its stadium grounds. The federal agency calls the report ‘false': Here's what we know
Details from community members and law enforcement have emerged about what unfolded in Los Angeles Thursday as federal agents were seen just outside the vast Dodger Stadium parking lot.
The news had sparked concerns that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown – and the ongoing raids that have taken place in public and at workplaces – was coming to the home of the World Series champions hours before a game against the San Diego Padres.
The Los Angeles area has remained on edge since President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to the city on June 7. Meanwhile, Los Angeles officials say they don't know where federal agents will show up, and the White House is expecting ICE to arrest 3,000 people per day.
While agents were still on scene, a few dozen protesters rushed to the Dodger Stadium area and began chanting anti-ICE slogans at the federal agents. Another few dozen people showed up before the evening game outside the stadium to protest.
However, in response to the Los Angeles Dodgers' statement on X saying that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents requested access to the team's parking lot, ICE said its agents 'were never there.'
Here's what we know:
According to the Dodgers, agents from ICE arrived at Dodger Stadium on Thursday and asked for permission to access the team's parking lots, but the Dodgers denied them entry.
The Dodgers hosted a celebrity softball game at 5:30 p.m. local time, before their home game against the San Diego Padres at 7:10 p.m. Thursday.
A US Customs and Border Protection official, who maintained there were no operations related to the MLB franchise Thursday, told CNN that CBP vehicles were in a parking lot on Dodger Stadium grounds, and one of them had a car malfunction, which caused them to stay longer.
'This had nothing to do with the Dodgers. CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement,' Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
The ICE account on X called out the Dodgers directly, saying their post was 'false.'
'We were never there,' the post read.
The first image of unmarked vans and federal agents outside Dodger Stadium taken by a community activist, and the last sighting of these vans – taken by a chopper from a CNN affiliate – showed them at two different entry points over a period of nearly four hours.
An Echo Park Rapid Response community activist, who did not want to be named, told CNN they followed agents directly from a Home Depot in Hollywood on Thursday to just outside the ballpark.
The activist said around 7:25 a.m. local time, community members signaled 'what they called a really heavy ICE presence at the Home Depot in Hollywood,' so they headed that way.
Once there, they saw two people being detained at a Home Depot and followed the vehicles in which the detainees were taken away, to near Dodger Stadium.
They saw a CBP agent, the activist said, whom they had also seen and spoken to at the Home Depot. 'I asked what they were doing. He responded that they bring the detainees there (near Dodger Stadium) to process them,' the activist said. 'They conduct their investigation there without public interference, (…) that they can't do it in the Home Depot parking lot because the public makes it too dangerous.'
Another activist in the area, Chelsea Kirk, posted images to social media around 8:15 a.m. local time, showing agents near the stadium's Gate A.
Kirk told CNN she followed what she believed to be an ICE van from the Home Depot to Gate A at Dodger Stadium, where she said she saw federal agents staged.
Kirk posted the first of her photos from Gate A, then followed agents to Gate E, where local CNN affiliates and protesters later showed up.
Just before noon, CNN affiliate aerial footage showed the final vans being escorted out of this area.
CNN has reached back out to CBP and ICE for clarification regarding the community members' description of events.
No matter the purpose of their presence in the area, the appearance of federal agents at Dodger Stadium is enough to create a high-profile event given the atmosphere that is gripping Los Angeles – a city that is home to more than 1.35 million immigrants, according to the LA government in 2024.
On June 6, raids occurred outside a Home Depot and an apparel warehouse in Los Angeles. The raids were among the operations that set off days of protests in the city. Ongoing raids and arrests by plainclothes agents have separated families and sparked fear across communities, including throughout Los Angeles.
Some businesses have been closing early, with more customers staying home. As the school year ended, some students wept openly in class out of concern for their families. Relatives opted out of attending graduation ceremonies, while some nannies chose to stay close to their employers' homes, only taking the children around the block instead of public parks.
Rumors of where ICE will be or how they'll be meeting the White House's demands for arrests have been rife, not just in LA, but across the country. With the FIFA Club World Cup attracting soccer fans to stadiums throughout the US, there have been worries that federal agents could target people coming to the games.
CNN's Graham Hurley contributed to this report.
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