Community leaders petition Dodgers ‘to take a public stand' against ICE raids in L.A.
More than 50 community and religious leaders from around Los Angeles signed a petition Friday that called on the Dodgers 'to take a public stand against the indiscriminate ICE raids which are causing immense terror in our communities, hurting businesses, and separating families.'
'This is the moment for the Dodgers to stand with the families whom masked agents are tearing apart,' read the letter, which was signed by religious officials, labor leaders and immigrant-rights activists, and addressed to Dodgers owner Mark Walter.
'If these truly are OUR beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, we need you, more than ever, to stand with us, immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Stand with all of us.'
The petition, which was organized by faith-based community organizing network PICO California, came a day after the Dodgers postponed what was scheduled to be their first public comment regarding the immigration raids that have swept through the city over the last two weeks.
On Thursday, the club had been preparing to announce their plans for assistance to immigrant communities impacted by the recent events in the city, a team spokesperson told The Times this week.
But then, federal immigration agents showed up at Dodger Stadium on Thursday morning, attempting to access the ballpark's parking lots in an apparent effort to use them as a processing site for people who had been arrested in a nearby immigration raid.
The Dodgers denied the agents entry to the grounds, according to the team, but the resulting fallout prompted their planned announcement to be delayed.
'Because of the events earlier today, we continue to work with groups that were involved with our programs,' team president Stan Kasten said. 'But we are going to have to delay today's announcement while we firm up some more details. We'll get back to you soon with the timing.'
Friday's petition implored the club to not wait any longer, asking the team to:
A news release announcing the letter also promoted a public petition campaign for fans to sign.
Many of the signatories of Friday's petition were local church leaders, including the bishops of the Methodist California-Pacific Conference and Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
'For generations, Angelenos have prayed their Dodgers on through good times and bad,' John Harvey Taylor, the Episcopal bishop, said in a statement. 'Dodgers security were champions this weekend. We pray that the Dodgers will stand with their fans, and their friends and family, who are at risk from these cruel workplace raids.'
The petition was also signed by representatives from more than 20 community advocacy groups, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and National Day Laborer Organizing Network; as well as labor leaders from local teacher unions and the Service Employees International Union, among others.
'We love the Dodgers not only because they are champions, but even more because they are the team of Jackie Robinson, of Fernando Valenzuela, of Kiké Hernandez — baseball players who have helped bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice,' Joseph Tomás McKellar, executive director of the PICO California organization that organized the petition, said in a statement. 'This is a moment when the Dodgers, a beloved family and cultural institution for 67 years, can take a moral stand and make an impact on the lives of vulnerable families in our region. Families are sacred.'
The Dodgers — which, the petition notes, has a roughly 40% Latino fan base — had been under increased public pressure in recent days to address the immigration raids happening around the city.
Last weekend, they received backlash when singer and social media personality Nezza performed a Spanish-language version of the national anthem at a game, in an act of protest against the raids, despite being asked by a club employee to sing it in English. Stadium security officials have also been seen cracking down on anti-ICE signage that some fans have tried to display around the ballpark recently. And this week, some fans on social media began to call for a protest against the team on Saturday.
The Dodgers are still expected to unveil their plans to assist local immigrant communities in the near future. If not for Thursday's unexpected encounter with federal immigration agents, it might have already happened by now.
But instead, they have yet to break their silence on the issue.
And on Friday, community leaders turned up the public pressure to do so.
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CNN
11 minutes ago
- CNN
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. This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight's game will be played as scheduled. 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. 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 early that morning, 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's Gate E. 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.' CNN has reached back out to CBP and ICE for clarification regarding the community member's 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.
New York Times
29 minutes ago
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Community leaders call on Dodgers to ‘take a public stand' against immigration raids
LOS ANGELES – A group of more than 50 Los Angeles community, religious and union leaders sent a letter on Friday calling on the Los Angeles Dodgers 'to take a public stand against the indiscriminate ICE raids which are terrorizing our communities, hurting businesses, and separating families,' a day after the team said it denied federal immigration agents access to parking lots around its stadium. Advertisement The Dodgers were set to announce plans Thursday to work with various community groups in Los Angeles impacted by President Donald Trump's recent crackdown on immigration and the militarized raids that began in the city on June 6. But that statement was delayed after federal agents arrived at the Sunset Gate in front of Dodger Stadium on Thursday morning seeking to process detainees. The organization said the federal agents were denied access, while the Department of Homeland Security said the visit was 'unrelated to any operation or enforcement.' 'This is the moment for the Dodgers to stand with the families whom masked agents are tearing apart,' the community groups wrote in the letter, which included a petition organized by faith-based organizing groups PICO California and LA Voice, and was sent to the team's controlling owner, Mark Walter, and the organization. 'Children who may have sat in your seats enjoying a game now come home with no parents to receive them and no word of their whereabouts or well being other than reports of inhumane treatment in detention centers across California and the Southwest.' The Dodgers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. On Thursday, Dodgers president Stan Kasten announced a postponement of the Dodgers' plans to announce assistance to immigrant groups. 'Because of the events earlier today, we continue to work with groups that were involved with our programs,' Kasten said. 'But we are going to have to delay today's announcement while we firm up some more details. We'll get back to you soon with the timing.' Within the letter to Dodgers ownership, the petition called on the team to: 'At every Dodger home game right before the players are announced, Todd Leitz ('the voice of Dodger Stadium') says to the crowd, 'And now, YOUR World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers!'' the letter read. 'If these truly are OUR beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, we need you, more than ever, to stand with us, immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Stand with all of us.' Advertisement The organization has received backlash from its vast Latino fanbase, with anti-ICE protestors arriving on scene Thursday morning when images of federal vehicles outside of the Dodger Stadium parking lots first started circulating on social media. Activists called for a stronger public response from the Dodgers and a protest on Saturday at Dodger Stadium. 'We love the Dodgers not only because they are champions, but even more because they are the team of Jackie Robinson, of Fernando Valenzuela, of Kiké Hernandez — baseball players who have helped bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice,' said Joseph Tomás McKellar, executive director of PICO California, which organized the petition, in a statement. 'This is a moment when the Dodgers, a beloved family and cultural institution for 67 years, can take a moral stand and make an impact on the lives of vulnerable families in our region. Families are sacred.' The letter points to public statements from Angel City FC and LAFC in support of immigrants. 'When masked agents take away our parents, our family, our neighbors—when those agents violate the rights of citizens and residents alike, we all must stand up and say, 'I do not approve, and I will not be silent,'' LA Voice executive director Rev. Zachary Hoover said in a statement. 'The Dodgers are a symbol of Los Angeles' richness. May they also be a symbol of our love of our families.' Hernández has been the lone Dodgers player to issue a public statement on the matter, posting on Instagram on Saturday night to give his support to the immigrant communities affected by the raids. 'I may not be Born & Raised, but this city adopted me as one of their own,' Hernández wrote in his post. 'I am saddened and infuriated by what's happening in our country and our city. Los Angeles and Dodger fans have welcomed me, supported me and shown me nothing but kindness and love. 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. #CityOfImmigrants.' Advertisement The Dodgers already received backlash this week after singer and social media personality Nezza opted to perform the official Spanish version of the United States national anthem at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, later posting a video showing an unidentified Dodgers employee telling her not to do it. She told CNN's 'The Lead' this week that the Dodgers 'called and said, 'Don't ever call us again. Don't ever email us again. The rest of your clients are never welcome here again.' So for me, that kind of feels like a ban.' A team spokesperson said there were 'no hard feelings' and that the singer was not banned from the stadium.
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