LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Thursday they blocked federal immigration agents from entering their stadium as dozens of anti-ICE protesters gathered outside the sports venue.
On social media, the MLB team said that federal agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the stadium and “requested permission to access the parking lots.”
“They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization,” the Dodgers said, adding that their game against the Padres will go on at the stadium as scheduled.
ICE responded to the Dodgers on social media saying, “False. We were never there.”
Demonstrators standing outside the stadium’s gates were seen holding signs and chanting “ICE out of L.A.” and “ICE go home” as several dark SUV vehicles stood on the opposite side of the road. Some of the federal agents appeared to be wearing Homeland Security uniforms.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, told NBC News in an email, “This had nothing to do with the Dodgers.”
According to McLaughlin, Customs and Border Protection vehicles “were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.”
The federal agents who showed up in those vehicles were turned away from entering the stadium gates, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
It was not immediately clear whether or how their presence was connected to immigration operations that were reported around the city Thursday, the sources said.
Eunisses Hernandez, a Los Angeles City Council member, told NBC News she received calls early in the morning that “federal agents were staging here at the entrance of Dodgers Stadium. We got pictures of dozens of vehicles and dozens of agents.”
She said her constituents asked her to come “check things out because this is Dodgers property right here and what’s happening is outrageous.”
Los Angeles police were called in, Hernandez said. They arrived in tactical gear at around 2:25 p.m. ET and started moving protesters out of the way.
“People are out here because they don’t want to see their families torn apart. They don’t want to see more workers taken from their jobs,” Hernandez said while standing at the site of the protest.
Sources told NBC News that the Dodgers have cooperated with law enforcement in the past, letting them use parking lots around the stadium for staging purposes.
“Businesses and corporations have the power to say, ‘Not on my property,’ so we’re waiting to see that movement happen here,” Hernandez told NBC Los Angeles.
As anti-ICE demonstrations raged across Los Angeles this month, many residents have called on the Dodgers to support immigrant communities.
The criticism comes as Dodgers owner Mark Walter bought another renowned Los Angeles sports team, the Lakers.
The defending World Series champs reportedly have plans to announce a sweeping new initiative to assist immigrant communities impacted by recent ICE raids.
One of their star players, Kike Hernández, released a statement this week to show his support.
“I am saddened and infuriated by what’s happening in our country and our city,” the statement reads. “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.”
Jacob Soboroff and Andrew Blankstein reported from Los Angeles and Nicole Acevedo from New York.
Erick Mendoza and David Douglas contributed.
