Humvees, Mounted ICE Officers And Soldiers Descend On LA's 'Ellis Island,' Face Protesters And Mayor

LOS ANGELES, CA — Over 100 members of the California National Guard and federal agents in Humvees, on horseback and in other vehicles descended on MacArthur Park Monday morning for an immigration enforcement operation.

The operation at the park, which began shortly before 11 a.m., included 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and scores of armed soldiers, the Associated Press reported. Agents, many wearing vests identifying them as with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, appeared to be staging outside the park. About a dozen Border agents were also seen riding horses into the park.

As the federal presence grew and gained attention from local media and activists, protesters quickly moved into the area. Also showing up was Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

"They need to leave and they need to leave right now because this is unacceptable," Bass told reporters, Fox 11 reported.

Bass was seen walking through the staging area, at one point speaking on a cell phone handed to her by a CBP officer.

According to Fox News, the CBP official Bass spoke with on the phone was Chief Gregory Bovino of the agency's El Centro Sector. Bovino told Fox News, "I don't work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles."

Bass later on Monday called the MacArthur Park activity a continuation of a "political agenda of provoking fear and terror," with federal agencies parading "armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in our parks," she said at a news conference.

Bass said a children's summer camp was at the park Monday morning when the operation was conducted. The mayor also posted a video on social media showing federal troops, some on horseback, marching in formation through the park. She said it "looked like a city under siege under armed occupation."

Dozens of protesters gathered at the park before many of the federal authorities left the area in several vehicles.

It remains unclear how many people were detained as part of the operation. KTLA reported on air that as many as 40 people were rounded up into the vehicles, while other reports said no people were arrested — and that MacArthur Park was acting more as a staging area than the center of a major operation.

The location of the raid carries significance. The operation occurred at a park in a neighborhood with large Mexican, Central American and other immigrant populations and has been dubbed by local officials as the “Ellis Island of the West Coast.” MacArthur Park has long been a community hub.

Sprawling MacArthur Park has a murky lake ringed by palm trees, an amphitheater that hosts summer concerts and sports fields where immigrant families line up to play soccer in the evenings and on weekends. It's known for homeless encampments and as a place where medical outreach teams tend to unhoused residents. MacArthur Park sits in the shadow of the downtown skyline.

The area around the park had frequently hosted dozens of stalls, tables and booths set up by vendors who sold everything from household goods to food to customers — many of whom, like the vendors, were immigrants. But earlier this year, vendors were pushed out by city officials due to safety concerns following a shooting.

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The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.