WESTLAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Federal agents and National Guard troops descended on MacArthur Park while children were at a summer camp on Monday, sparking chaos and fear in the area.

The neighborhood is home to a large immigrant population; however, agents appeared to have left largely empty-handed.

The raid began unfolding just before 11:30 a.m. AIR7 video shows what appears to be federal agents holding weapons and standing on an armored vehicle. The agents were not wearing any identification as they rolled through the park.

Many people quickly responded to the activity. AIR7 video shows community members following the armored vehicle and filming with their cellphones.

Federal agents in an armored vehicle were spotted rolling past MacArthur Park in the Westlake area of Los Angeles Monday morning.

Many large National Guard vehicles were also spotted in the area.

Defense officials told ABC News that 90 armed troops were involved in the operation in support of immigration authorities in Los Angeles. All of the troops involved in the operation were activated members of the California National Guard. The operation included some 17 Humvees, four military cargo trucks and two military ambulances.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass shared a video on X of the scene, showing what she described as a troop formation on horseback at MacArthur Park. She called it “Absolutely outrageous.”

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. pic.twitter.com/sxGzjGlYlr— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) July 7, 2025

The video Bass shared showed armed federal agents, some on horses, walking across a soccer pitch. Bass said minutes before, more than 20 kids were playing on the field.

“I don’t think the goal is to detain; the goal is to spread fear,” Bass said.

Many of those who responded to the apparent raid are 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,” said Ron Gochez with Unión Del Barrio. “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?”

Defense officials said the troops were deployed to set up a security perimeter to protect federal law enforcement officials against potentially hostile crowds. The armed troops were told in advance of the raid that they could defend themselves and federal employees if needed. If a person was a threat, the troops could detain the individual briefly before handing them off to law enforcement.

Bass held a news conference, saying she was alerted to what was happening and went to the park. She said she asked to speak with someone in charge and was put on the phone with an individual who told her they would be leaving in a few minutes.

Mayor Bass and other city and community leaders held a news conference in response to the immigration activity in MacArthur Park on Monday in the Westlake area of Los Angeles.

“You can spin it any way you like, but in my opinion, it’s a political agenda of provoking fear and terror,” Bass said. “Frankly, it is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks. It’s outrageous and un-American that the federal government seized our state’s National Guard.”

During the news conference, L.A. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said a summer camp was taking place at MacArthur Park when federal agents and troops moved in. She said the kids were quickly ushered into the lower level of the building used for the camp to keep them away from the immigration raid.

Bass said she was on the way to another news conference when she heard about the raid and went to the park instead. She said the children were not told about the immigration raid when they were taken inside.

However, Bass said when she talked to an 8-year-old boy at the summer camp, he told her that he was scared of immigration raids and feared that his parents would be taken away.

“Please understand that’s what’s happening here in the city of Los Angeles. We are the canary in the coal mine. When you see happening in Macarthur Park is coming to you — $140 billion new budget for ICE,” Hernandez said. “What do you think that’s going to do? That’s going to transport what’s happening here in our neighborhoods to your front doorstep. So, wake up.”

Many continued rallying and protesting into the afternoon, calling for ICE and the military to leave.

Eyewitness News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to ask which agencies conducted the raid; why, if anyone, was taken; and if so, where are they now? The following response was attributed to a senior official:

“We don’t comment on ongoing enforcement operations.”

Monday marks 30 days since June 6, when many of the raids began in SoCal, and several weeks since those who appear to federal authorities have been taking people from parking lots, sidewalks and workplaces.

A closer look at National Guard’s role in the operation at MacArthur Park

Eyewitness News went for a ride-along with the Department of Defense on Monday, working to see firsthand what the National Guard’s role has been amid immigration raids across Southern California. During that ride-along, they responded to MacArthur Park.

As soon as the Guardsmen Eyewitness News Reporter Kevin Ozebek rode with reached MacArthur Park, he saw a line of federal police on horseback already in the park, lined up.

READ MORE: Eyewitness News gets a closer look at National Guard’s role in SoCal immigration operations

Eyewitness News got a closer look at the Department of Defense’s role in Southern California immigration operations on Monday at MacArthur Park.

Then, lines of DHS police on foot started moving in fast, crossing a soccer field at the park.

For the most part, Kevin saw DHS police just standing there. From his vantage point, he didn’t see them making any arrests.

Kevin noted that at no point during the ride-along did he see the National Guard do anything but stand back and watch from the perimeter of the park. The Guard cannot make immigration arrests.

A Department of Defense (DOD) official who spoke with Kevin made it very clear that DHS and the DOD have very different missions.

While we’ve seen DHS making immigration arrests for weeks now, the DOD said the only thing the National Guard can do during these operations is temporarily detain someone if they are posing a threat to a DHS police officer.

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