On the morning of July 7, federal immigration authorities conducted a military-style raid at MacArthur Park, adjacent to LA’s Koreatown, deploying heavily armed troops with weaponry typically seen in war zones. The operation sent shockwaves through the area, creating a tense and fearful atmosphere. Citizens who witnessed the raid spontaneously formed a protest group, confronting authorities with fierce opposition in a heated standoff. LA Mayor Karen Bass, who visited the scene, condemned the operation, stating, “Their goal is not arrests or detentions but to spread fear in the community,” and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the agents.

According to Bass’s office and the Associated Press (AP) on July 7, around 10:30 a.m., approximately 100 federal immigration agents and National Guard troops, heavily armed, stormed MacArthur Park on the eastern edge of Koreatown. The AP, citing a military source, reported that the operation involved 17 military vehicles, four ambulances, and dozens of federal agents and National Guard members.

Heavily armed personnel and mounted officers partially blocked roads near the park during the operation. As armed agents appeared, nearby citizens began chanting slogans in defiance. The Los Angeles Times reported that several women walking in the area, upon hearing of the raid, shouted “It’s ICE!” and fled in panic.

The operation came just days after President Trump signed a budget expanding immigration enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to an unprecedented scale in U.S. history. LA has recently emerged as a symbolic target of the Trump administration’s “mass deportation plan,” with approximately 1,600 arrests made between June 6 and June 22.Footage released by Bass’s office showed that, despite it being a Monday with relatively few people in the park, the presence of armed military personnel sweeping through created a climate of fear. Bass stated, “There were about 20 kids playing when the military rolled in. As soon as I heard, I went to the park and told the person in charge this needs to stop immediately.” She described the scene as “absolutely shocking,” adding, “It felt like the city was occupied by a fully armed military.

”According to the Los Angeles Times, Bass was passing through the area for a press conference when she learned of the raid and rushed to the scene. While approaching a crowd of citizens, she was seen speaking on a phone handed to her by David Kim, a deputy director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). When asked by the media who she spoke with, Bass replied, “I spoke with the Customs Commissioner. The federal immigration agents here must withdraw immediately. This is unacceptable.” She then left the scene in a black SUV.

Later that afternoon, Bass held an emergency press conference with LA City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, denouncing the raid as “another example of the Trump administration sowing chaos by conducting military operations in American cities.” She called the deployment of federal armed vehicles in a peaceful park “outrageous and un-American.”

The immigrant community also reacted swiftly. Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, described ICE’s actions as “less about actual enforcement and more about heightening fear, like a reality TV show designed for spectacle.

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