Over 100 federal agents conducted an immigration raid at MacArthur Park on Monday, drawing protestors and Mayor Karen Bass to the area.
The operation started around 11 a.m. Some agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection staged outside the park, while other agents were seen on horseback, according to City News Service.
At one point, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass approached the agents, and one officer handed her a phone, Fox 11 reported.
Fox News reporter, Bill Melugin, confirmed that Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino spoke with Bass on the phone.
“I don’t work for Karen Bass,” Bovino told Melugin. “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.”
In a response to Melugin on X, Bovino wrote, "Nice to talk with you again today, Bill. We may well go back to MacArthur Park or other places in and around Los Angeles. Illegal aliens had the opportunity to self deport, now we'll help things along a bit."
On X, Mayor Bass posted a video of what she said was footage from the area.
“Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through,” she wrote. “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. Absolutely outrageous.”
At a press conference, Mayor Bass called Monday’s raid “outrageous and un-American.”
“Frankly, it is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks,” she said. “It's outrageous and un-American that the federal government seized our state's National Guard. It's outrageous and un-American that we have US Marines who are trained to kill foreign soldiers overseas deployed in our American city. So here's the truth: there's no plan other than fear, chaos, and politics. Home Depot one day, a car washed the next, armed vehicles, and what looks like mounted military units in a park the next day.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom called the incident a "cruel spectacle."
"I don't think we have reports that anybody was detained, which only reinforces the theater, the spectacle, the cruelty, the weakness expressed by the very statement of the border czar that apparently wasn't able to find an arrest," Newsom told KNX News' Craig Fiegener. "How pathetic. How cruel as it relates to the sanctuary policies. They're limited in their scope and effectiveness. This is not about going after dangerous criminals. This is about going after members of our community that've been here 10, 20, 30 years. This is about destroying the fabric of this state. It's about taking this state down. That's what this is about."
It's unclear if anyone was arrested during this operation.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM