Filipino immigrant rights groups condemned McArthur Park “political spectacle”

LOS ANGELES - Filipino immigrants rights groups have condemned the “political spectacle” where hundreds of heavily armed federal agents and military vehicles made their presence felt in the morning of July 7 at McArthur Park along and in the heart of Wilshire Boulevard.

“It normalizes violence against migrants while desensitizing the public to military-style enforcement in our neighborhoods,” Tanggol Migrante Network and the Filipino Migrant Center said in a press statement last July 7, which marks a month since the attack on immigrant communities all over Los Angeles was unleashed.

Emphasizing that it is not about public safety, the groups said that “the presence of snipers is a blatant show of force meant to intimidate entire communities” as agents in tactical gear and visible rifles walked through a portion of the McArthur park.

ICEBlock app reported the sighting at 10:48am at 2080-2098 Wilshire boulevard, which is the corner of Wilshire and Alvarado, with a description “Cavalry and ICE agents on the field side of the park.”

Photos and videos of federal agents in full battle gear were immediately circulating online and shared within the community of immigrant rights groups. Community self defense volunteers  under a coalition led by Union Del Barrio flocked to McArthur Park to document the “political spectacle.”

In videos, agents, some of them identified to be  Border Patrol, rolled  through park  holding weapons and standing on armored vehicles. ABC7 reported 17 Humvees, four military cargo trucks and two military ambulances blocked portions of Wilshire and side streets.

During the afternoon press conference of Union del Barrio infront of the Federal Building, June of Bayan Southern California said that “this pattern is not going to stop until we get organized,” referring to the attacks in the communities since June 6. She suggested that what people need is self-defense.

“They send the military and National Guard against the people, but is that what the people need,” June said adding that “instead of money going to the people, instead of social social services, medical services, it goes to the military, to defense” referring to the “Big Beautiful Bill” that “continues to give the people anxiety, continue to keep  the people afraid.”

This escalation is directly tied to increased federal enforcement funding under the BBB that the groups said enables these violent spectacles and expands the tools of repression. “The trauma of raids spreads far beyond those who are detained and has a larger impact throughout our communities,” the statement added.

“Through ongoing organizing and work through Tanggol Migrante, we have met undocumented workers and people with mixed-status all over Southern California who are living in continuous heightened fear, “ the groups said urging communities to resist these shows of force which means demanding real sanctuary, build migrant solidarity and advocate for funding for social services education and healthcare instead of expense made to treat our neighborhoods like war zones.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass showed a video of these armed federal agents, some in horses walking across McArthur Parkduring a press conference Monday. “I don’t think the goal its to detain, the goal is to spread fear,” Bass said calling it a political agenda of provoking fear and terror.

“It is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks. Its outrageous and un-American that the federal government seized our state’s National Guard,” she added.

Ron Gochez of Union del Barrio said, “they brought terror to the community, but they didn’t have the guts to stick around here to really do a big raid, the community would come out and defend the people.”

“And that’s why we’re here.They have all the courage when its a senior citizen vendor selling flowers by the cemetery, They had the courage to go kidnap her. But when the masses come out, where is the courage?” he further said.

It was learned that during the military was parading the streets around McArthur Park and making their presence felt within the park grounds, children were playing in a summer camp. A health worker belonging to the St. John’s Community Health, which provides health services to the unhoused at the park, also said that the federal officers pointed a gun at them telling them to leave.

The food truck belonging to the non-profit Feed My Poor, which provides hot meals to the unhoused and the low-income immigrants at McArthur Park on Mondays and based at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills,  had to divert to Skid Row upon learning of the military presence.

Meanwhile, Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino told Fox News that he was him who talked to Bass on the phoned and agreed to pull out his men from McArthur Park although he said “I don’t work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, because this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.”