LA Dodgers block Federal agents from setting up in stadium parking lots, team says

Major League Baseball side the Los Angeles Dodgers blocked Federal immigration agents from accessing Dodger Stadium parking lots today, the team said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied having agents at the stadium, while the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that Customs and Border Protection vehicles were present.

“This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots,” the Dodgers wrote on social media. “They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled.”

In a social media post, the Department of Homeland Security said the incident “had nothing to do with the Dodgers.” Customs and Border Protection vehicles “were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement,” the DHS said.

ICE called the statement from the Dodgers “false,” writing in a post on X, “We were never there.”

Local media reported that protesters arrived at the stadium after accounts of immigration agents near the parking lot had circulated on social media. Armed agents with covered faces stood near unmarked SUVs outside the stadium lot, the Los Angeles Times reported. Local police eventually arrived, and the agents drove off.

“This is another example of the Federal administration doing everything in their power to strike fear and hurt hardworking families,” said Diana Crofts-Pelayo, director of communications for California Governor Gavin Newsom.

The move from the Dodgers marks the latest confrontation between Federal agents and a city that has faced unrest over recent immigration enforcement raids. ICE agents this month began detaining people in downtown Los Angeles, prompting week-long demonstrations punctuated by images of flames and destruction in the area.

Law enforcement fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets into crowds of protesters, at times hitting journalists. Newsom and President Donald Trump publicly clashed over the protests, with the governor accusing the Trump administration of illegally and unilaterally deploying the National Guard.

ICE has been under pressure from the White House to increase immigration arrests in an effort to fulfill Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, an architect of the President’s hard-line immigration policy, said last month that the administration wants ICE to conduct a minimum of 3000 arrests a day. Mr Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told The Washington Post in an interview last week that arrests had increased to about 2000 a day.

Los Angeles County has seen an influx of immigration agents in recent weeks. The city of Glendale said in a post on X on Thursday that officials were aware of “ICE activity” in the area.

The Dodgers were expected to announce plans to assist immigrant communities in LA on Thursday.

Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts addressed the Los Angeles protests during a news conference last week, saying, “When you’re having to bring people in and, you know, deport people and just kind of all the unrest, it’s certainly unsettling for everyone.”

Los Angeles Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez has slammed the team’s response to the immigration crackdown.

“The Dodgers boast that more than 40 percent of their fan base is Latino, but they can’t even be bothered to offer the shaken community any words of comfort,” Hernandez wrote. “How ungrateful. How disrespectful. How cowardly.”

Dodgers player Kiké Hernández wrote on Instagram last week that 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. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights,” wrote Hernandez, who is from Puerto Rico. He punctuated his post with #CityOfImmigrants.

On Saturday, singer and influencer Nezza sang the national anthem in Spanish before a Dodgers home game while wearing a Dominican Republic shirt.

She said on social media that an employee of the baseball team had told her to sing it in English but she ultimately disregarded the instruction.

The Dodgers are known to have a strong Latino contingent within their fan base, which many link to star Mexican pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. His unhittable screwball and big personality sparked Fernandomania as he won the National League’s Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in 1981. Mexican American fans dubbed him El Toro - the bull - and played mariachi ballads to celebrate him, The Post wrote in his obituary last year.

The team is scheduled faced San Diego Padres in Los Angeles today.