Photo: Katarina Sabados
On June 6, in a parking lot of a Los Angeles Home Depot, ICE agents rolled in and arrested 10 undocumented migrants who worked as day labourers. Relatives and community members arrived to try to stop the arrests, with some trying to block the vehicles carrying their detained family members.
The clash soon turned violent with officers using pepper spray and batons, pushing crowds back with riot shields as some protesters fled or retaliated. Others were arrested, including a prominent labour leader. As fear and panic began to spread across the city, protests erupted in other neighbourhoods, prompting President Trump to call in the military on the second-largest city in America.
I visited LA for the first time in December 2023 while reporting for State of Play: Summer Games. It was my first time in the city, and I had heard so much about the glitz and glam of LA, mythicized by Hollywood and Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ songs. While I found most of the iconography of LA quite underwhelming, what struck me the most was how the entire facade of the city was held up by working-class migrants, mostly from Latino and Black communities. They are the engine that runs the machine of the city.
A growing coalition of federal and state enforcement agencies is now patrolling the streets of LA, not to serve or protect, but to target, harass, detain, and deport members of this community. This coalition includes 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 US Marines – that’s more than the number of US military personnel currently deployed in Syria and Iraq.
I spent most of my time in South Central LA, in a neighbourhood called Flower Drive, a ten-minute drive from Paramount, where the first confrontation at the Home Depot took place. I was reporting on how LA was positioning itself as “the sports capital of the world,” at the cost of the very communities that keep it running. Nestled between two major stadiums and a university, residents in this historically Latino neighbourhood are being pushed out by developers racing to build multi-million-dollar commercial and housing projects ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics.
When I heard about the protests, I reached back out to Ines Alcazar, who first moved to Flower Drive from Oaxaca, Mexico as a teenager in the 70s. She’s now 75 and a grandmother, living in a multi-family home with her husband, two daughters, and her grandson. She’s also a community leader and activist who has been in the trenches fighting against rent hikes and evictions in her neighbourhood for the last four years. I had seen photos of ICE vehicles parked right next to one of the stadiums, with dozens of agents on the street parallel to Flower Drive. I was worried for Ines and her community.
“There is a lot of commotion going on close to Flower Drive. But we are fine. We are under alert, but since most of us are elderly, we are only working to support our community members who are more frontline.”
—Ines Alcazar
It’s not just Flower Drive that is being impacted by the flood of major sporting events in Los Angeles over the next three years – including the CONCACAF Gold Cup and FIFA Club World Cup starting next week, the FIFA World Cup and NBA All-Star Game next year, the Super Bowl in 2027, and the Summer Olympic Games in 2028. Activists and community organizers are sounding the alarm on increased policing and displacement of the unhoused in the city – the largest unsheltered population in the country.
The slew of sporting extravaganzas is not far from Mayor Karen Bass’ mind either. Speaking to ABC News on the third day of the protests, she urged residents to stay calm and work together, reminding everyone about the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
“I think there should be peace in the city. In a little bit less than a year, the World Cup is going to be here. The world is going to be here. We need to stick together, Angelinos.”
—Karen Bass, LA Mayor
Large events like the World Cup and the Olympics are designated as National Special Security Events, which allows the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to lead safety and security planning for the event. It allows both departments to work together with local police and law enforcement agencies to share information and provide access to their databases. How much this designation plays a role in the ongoing immigration crackdown is something I will be investigating for the next season of State of Play, slated for release in the summer of 2026.
In the meantime, ICE agents and Customs and Border Protection officers are expected to be providing security at the kick-off game of the FIFA Club World Cup in Miami next week. The Department of Homeland Security has already issued a statement advising fans who are non-citizens to carry all their identification and immigration papers to avoid any issues. You can hear about all this and more in upcoming bonus episodes of State of Play, where we will also explore why a regional North American soccer tournament has attracted major investments from Saudi Arabia and how a recent Champions League win by a Parisian team has a lot to do with Qatar.
As I write this, the Digital Publishing Awards just announced that we won the silver award for Best Podcast for State of Play, which I’m thrilled about. To be honest, I didn’t expect it all considering we were up against industry bigwigs like CBC, The Narwhal, Cabin Radio and The Conversation Canada. A huge thank you to people like Ines who trusted us with their stories.
This kind of work, where I spend years on a single topic and build deep relationships with the communities I report on to create award-winning work, is only possible because I work at an independent, not-for-profit organization like the Global Reporting Centre. I am not bound by the daily news grind and have the gift of time. Please consider making your own gift to support this kind of community-focused long-form reporting by clicking here.
Sharon Nadeem,
Producer and Head of Partnerships
