Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Monday she confronted federal agents at a city park amid tensions between her city and the federal government over immigration.
“When I got to MacArthur Park, by the way, and my purpose was one, to witness what was going on, but then when I got there, to do what I could to stop it,” Bass said during a press conference Monday.
“And so I asked the person, an individual from the custom and border patrol, who was in charge. They put me on the phone with the individual. I said that this needed to end, what was the purpose in them being here, but it absolutely needed to end. He said that they would be leaving within minutes, and I believe a few minutes later they left,” she added.
Video posted Monday by a local Fox reporter who said it was taken at the park appeared to show Bass interacting with a U.S Border Patrol agent.
Earlier, Bass had featured a video in post on social platform X that she said was “from today in MacArthur Park.”
In the video, a group of what appears to be uniformed authorities on foot and horseback move across what seems to be a park.
“Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through. The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW,” Bass said in her post. “Absolutely outrageous.”
In a statement obtained by CBS News, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection [CBP] led a large–scale federal immigration enforcement operation in downtown Los Angeles today, supported by the military units that President Trump deployed to the area earlier this year to protect federal property and agents.”
“ICE was involved but the operation was led by CBP, which has been overseeing immigration enforcement efforts in the LA area for the past weeks,” the statement continued.
A senior Department of Homeland Security official told The Hill late Thursday that the department does not “comment on ongoing enforcement operations.”
The Hill has reached out to the Marines, Army, California National Guard, ICE and Customs and Border Protection for comment.
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