U.S. News

MacArthur Park has long been an immigrant neighborhood, with a history of political activism. In 2007, it was the center of the May Day rallies demanding amnesty for undocumented people, which were met with exceptional brutality by the Los Angeles police department.

The neighborhood was also where the Trump administration kicked off its ramped-up raids in LA, sending agents to arrest undocumented day laborers at the local Home Depot store and street vendors along bustling commercial corridors.

A Defense Department official told reporters the operation on Monday was not a military operation, but said that the size and scope of the guard’s participation could make it appear as one to the public, according to the Associated Press.

“It’s just going to be more overt and larger than we usually participate in,” one of the officials said before the raid ended abruptly with no explanation.