On Monday July 7, federal troops stormed MacArthur Park in Los Angeles equipped with camo rifles with live ammunition and armored cars. They stomped through the park intimidating residents, though it’s unclear whether there were any arrests, and the Department of Homeland Security has refused to explain the purpose of the operation. When the troops started marching, a crowd began to grow. People surrounded the armored cars, with the potential of a rebellion if the troops stayed much longer.
The operation in MacArthur Park is a demonstration of what is to come under President Trump’s brutal crackdown on immigration. Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol chief, said of the operation, “I don’t work for [Mayor] Karen Bass. 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.”
There has been a large increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal agents in military gear in the streets of Los Angeles, including at hospitals and stores like Home Depot. The resistance, typically organized by groups like the Community Self Defense Coalition and CHIR-LA or spontaneous community and activists, continue to confront the efforts to detain their immigrant neighbors throughout the city.
One thing is clear: to defend our migrant siblings and stop the administration’s anti-immigrant attacks, we need full unity of the working class, unions, and social movements.
MacArthur Park: A History of Immigrant Resistance
Monday’s events were a show of force in one of the most politically organized and combative areas of the city. MacArthur Park was the site of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) brutality in 2007, the year after the monumental 2006 Day Without Immigrants where hundreds of thousands took to the streets in a de facto general strike. The LAPD beat children, protesters, reporters, cameramen, and even news vans — all live on television.
These brutal events 19 years ago were orchestrated by Democratic police chief William Bratton from the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the first Latino person to hold the position in 100 years. Just three years later, in 2010, the LAPD’s Rampart Division — again under the leadership of the Democratic Party — murdered Guatemalan Indigenous day laborer Manuel Jamines Xum. The community responded to Xum’s murder with three days of struggle against the LAPD, throwing rocks, bottles, and rotten eggs at the police, forcing them back toward their station.
The vendors in MacArthur Park also have a history of organizing themselves, defending their right to sell goods like fruits, vegetables, keychains, and t-shirts at the park. These are primarily Central American and Mexican immigrants, many of whom were part of political organizations before they came to the United States. This is why Trump sent troops to MacArthur Park: it is a highly politicized neighborhood (and the Mexican consulate is just within walking distance).
A Weakened Trump Lashes Out
The operation MacArthur Park was orchestrated by a weak and unpopular Trump administration that is seeing growing opposition and resistance to its brutal anti-immigrant agenda. People are mobilizing across the country, like in the recent anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles. Many have been galvanized by the detentions of Mahmoud Khalil and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including teachers and even high school students who have staged walkouts in support of their immigrant classmates. Groups like the Community Self Defense Coalition, led by Union Del Barrio, are monitoring and intervening against the raids. Monday’s events also come amid the recent passage of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which recently awarded ICE with $170 billion in funding, making it the largest federal agency in U.S. history.
In this context, unleashing troops at MacArthur Park was an attempt to show force against the immigrant community as well as against the city and state Democratic Party politicians, like Mayor Karen Bass. Bass condemned Monday’s operation in MacArthur Park; however, she is not against deportations, and she defended the police and sheriffs when they attacked protesters after the No Kings rally. California governor Gavin Newsom, for his part, has also condemned Trump’s attacks while defending deportations.
And despite their rhetorical overtures against Trump and these brutal raids, we must be clear-eyed about the Democrats’ role in building up the U.S. deportation machine. President Obama was dubbed the “Deporter in Chief” as he deported more people than any other president in US history. And President Biden maintained most of the anti-immigrant policies from Trump’s first term and even increased funding for ICE.
For all the jingoist and bigoted zeal displayed by Trump and the Far Right, the Democratic party paved the way for these reactionary forces’ attacks on immigrants. The Democratic and Republican Parties are fundamentally united in defending attacks on immigrants and protesters, and the right of the state to brutalize the working class and oppressed of Los Angeles.
Trump lays bare that the capitalist class has no interest in the lives of workers. Its priority is to directly attack the undocumented and discipline the entire working class, youth, students, and any of his critics into submission.
Fighting for Immigrant Rights, Independently of Both Parties
We, as the working class, must organize ourselves politically — independent of the capitalist parties, who will not defend our interests and will attack our migrant siblings. Self-organization and self-defense committees allow for the entire working class — whether documented or undocumented — to make decisions about our strategic and political advances and how we can defend our communities.
We’ve already seen powerful examples of how we can fight back, in addition to last month’s anti-ICE protests. In 2006, the de facto general strike meant that hundreds of thousands of workers withheld their labor and engaged in a mass mobilization. In the last two years, hundreds of thousands of workers throughout California and beyond have gone on strike, including the SEIU, the UAW, the WGA, SAG-Aftra, and AFSCME. Workers have marched the picket lines and braved the police and bosses’ retaliation. Many unions, like SEIU 721, are actively taking up the fight for immigrant rights.
But we can go even further. Unions across sectors must mobilize all their members to defend our migrant siblings from attacks. We must fight the militarization of our cities, ICE raids, and deportations. We must demand full rights for immigrants, including legalization, and organize in democratic assemblies to decide how our movement can go forward. This is class war, and it means we need to use working-class methods — like the strike, our most powerful weapon. If we unite unions, social movements, and community groups in mass mobilizations, we can kick ICE out and win the fight for immigrant rights.
