Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is condemning federal agents and National Guard troops for descending on a city park on Monday, July 7.
Armored vehicles, mounted officers and armed troops briefly swarmed the city’s MacArthur Park Monday morning before leaving. Bass said 20 children were playing at the park before the troops surged through and shared footage of federal officers running through the park.
“Franky, it is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in our parks,” Bass said at a Monday news conference. “It is outrageous and un-American that the federal government that seized our state’s National Guard. It’s outrageous and un-American that we have U.S. Marines who are trained to kill foreign soldiers overseas, deployed in our American city.”
The mayor said on X that she visited the park the second she heard about what was happening and ordered the person in charge to leave immediately. Calling the scene “absolutely outrageous,” she described what occurred as a “military-style operation designed to strike fear in the heart of our city.”
“We will not be afraid and we will not be divided. We will stand TOGETHER,” she wrote.
According to an X post from the Department of Defense, troops were present at the park to “ensure the safety of federal agents.”
Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district encompasses MacArthur Park, said on X that armed troops were “terrorizing street vendors, elders, and even children at summer camp.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the National Guard for comment.
Pentagon spent $134 million on National Guard deployment
Bass has criticized the National Guard presence in LA, arguing that it is abnormal for them to be deployed without a governor’s request.
Last month, President Donald Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the city in response to protests against federal immigration enforcement. The president has defended the decision, writing on Truth Social that “if we didn’t send out the National Guard—Los Angeles would be burning right now!”
Defense officials said the Pentagon spent $134 million for the 60-day deployment. Bryn MacDonnel, a special assistant to the defense secretary, explained that the costs included travel, housing and food, adding the funds came out of operations and maintenance accounts.
Gov. Gavin Newsom attempted to block the federal incursion in California and later filed a lawsuit against Trump and accused the president, as well as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, of trying to use the assets to help ICE conduct raids.
Contributing: James Powel and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
