ICE agents on horseback storm kids' summer camp as families flee in terror
Onlookers watch as federal agents with US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) ride on an armored vehicle driving slowly down Whilshire Boulevard near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, California, on July 7, 2025(Image: AFP via Getty Images)Heavily armed Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and National Guard troops descended on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles Monday morning while a children's summer camp was going on, forcing counselors to rush the children inside, sparking fear and chaos throughout the community.
The neighborhood is home to a large immigrant population, but agents largely left empty-handed as swarms of community members rushed to defend their neighbors.
Article continues belowThe raids kicked off at around 11:30 a.m. PST as armed unidentified agents in armored vehicles and on horseback moved into the area, sending many people fleeing. Activists had reportedly alerted those present in the park at the time that the agents were coming. It comes as Trump explodes over Epstein files question in fiery Cabinet room confrontation.
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Federal agents ride on horseback at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Image: AP)Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was present in the park during a portion of the raid on Monday and said the children attending a day camp were quickly ushered inside to avoid seeing the troops. Still, Bass said an 8-year-old boy told her that "he was fearful of ICE."
"What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation," Bass said. "The world needs to see the troop formation on horses walking through the park in search of what? In search of what? They're walking through the area where the children play."
About 90 members of the California National Guard were present to protect immigration officers, defense officials said.
Bass shared a video on social media showing agents and troops, many on horseback, swarming a soccer pitch as residents fled the area.
"This is footage from today in MacArthur Park. Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through. 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," Bass wrote on X above the video.
Content cannot be displayed without consentMany community members who responded to the area were volunteers with a community self-defense coalition, including Unión del Barrio.
"They brought terror to the community, but they didn't have the guts to stick around because they knew if they stuck around here, to really do a big raid, the community would come out to defend the people," Ron Gochez with Unión Del Barrio told KABC. "And that's exactly why we're here. They have all the courage when it's a senior citizen vendor selling flowers by a cemetery. They had the courage to go kidnap her. But when the masses come out, where is the courage?"
The Department of Homeland Security wouldn't say whether anyone had been arrested during the brief operation at MacArthur Park. Federal officials did not respond to requests for comment about why the park was targeted or why the raid ended abruptly.
Many demonstrators remained to continue protesting after agents and troops left the area.
The operation in the large park about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of downtown LA included 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and the armed soldiers, defense officials said. It came after President Donald Trump deployed thousands of Guard members and active duty Marines to the city last month following protests over previous immigration raids.
Federal agents with US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) ride on an armored vehicle driving slowly down Whilshire Boulevard near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, California, on July 7, 2025(Image: AFP via Getty Images)California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the events at the park "a spectacle."
Two defense officials told reporters that what happened at MacArthur Park on Monday was not a military operation but acknowledged that the size and scope of the Guard's participation could make it look like one to the public. That is why the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about the raid that were not announced publicly. The primary role of the service members would be to protect the immigration enforcement officers in case a hostile crowd gathered, one of the officials said.
Article continues below"It's just going to be more overt and larger than we usually participate in," that official said.