Federal agents are denied access to Dodger Stadium in latest immigration clash

Amna Nawaz:

One of L.A.'s most prized civic institutions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now caught up in the debate over high-profile immigration raids taking place across the region.

Yesterday, the Dodgers said ICE agents requested access to their stadium parking lots, a request the organization says they denied. The Department of Homeland Security said those agents were from Customs and Border Protection and that their presence was unrelated to the Dodgers.

But the incident and the team's response has gotten a lot of attention in a city where one-third of residents are immigrants and nearly half identify as Latino.

For more now, we're joined by Dylan Hernandez. He's a lifelong Angeleno and a sports columnist for The Los Angeles Times.

Dylan, welcome to the "News Hour." Thanks for joining us.

Dylan Hernandez, The Los Angeles Times:

Thank you for having me on.

Amna Nawaz:

So, before we get into the context here, what do we actually know about what happened yesterday, why federal agents were at Dodger Stadium, and why DHS is saying it had nothing to do with the Dodgers?

Dylan Hernandez:

Yes, so from what we gathered, basically, there was a raid somewhere nearby in the morning and they needed somewhere to basically process these people.

And Dodger Stadium just seemed like a convenient place, I guess, because usually, if they do this out of the open, crowds gather and stuff. So they went to Dodger Stadium. And from what our understanding is that they got all the way to the security gates, but at the security gates, they were turned away.

Amna Nawaz:

And the Dodgers' decision to turn them away, how did that go over with fans in the community?

Dylan Hernandez:

I mean, I think it was kind of like, finally. Finally, they kind of showed which side I guess they were on, right?

And I think going all the way back to earlier in the season they decided to visit the White House. Obviously, the White House extends invitations to teams of major sports that win championships. The Dodgers were extended this invitation. They decided to go. I think at the time that was kind of not taken very well by the fan base.

And then when the raids started, they really didn't say — they basically have not been saying anything at all. So I think it was kind of one of these things where I think there was a lot of anger and even hurt in the fan base. And it was kind of like, well, at least they did this.

Amna Nawaz:

Dylan, the context you're providing here is so important, because there were protests against his immigration raids in L.A. for about two weeks.

You had already seen statements in support of the protesters from individual Dodger players and former announcers. There was even this unsanctioned national anthem performance in Spanish that went viral. Take a listen.

(Singing)

(Cheering)

Amna Nawaz:

And, Dylan, as you point out, we hadn't heard anything from the Dodger organization really until this incident yesterday. You called them cowardly a few days ago in a column for not speaking out. Why?

Dylan Hernandez:

I mean, we have to kind of go back decades here probably starting with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, right? He was a Dodger. Sandy Koufax, the great pitcher, Jewish pitcher, refused to pitch on Yom Kippur. The team supported that.

And kind of in more recent decades, the Dodgers have really helped expand baseball's borders by bringing in Fernando Valenzuela from Mexico, Hideo Nomo from Japan, Chan Ho Park from South Korea. Now players from those countries are regulars in Major League Baseball now.

And now the thing is, with Valenzuela, that was particularly important in Los Angeles because of how Dodger Stadium was built, right? There was a Mexican-American community there in Chavez Ravine that were basically kind of like forced out of their homes. There are famous pictures of people literally being dragged out because — to clear homes for some eminent domain thing.

Initially, I believe there was supposed to become — there was supposed to be like a housing project built there. That thing kind of stalled, and eventually the Dodgers took over that land. So, for a very long time the Mexican-American community in Los Angeles viewed the Dodgers with a lot of suspicion.

And Fernando Valenzuela kind of single-handedly changed all of that, when all of a sudden you had this Mexican pitcher that was kind of beloved by everybody. And all of a sudden this team that was once viewed as being very decisive — divisive now became this thing that like, hey, like everybody could like, right?

And the Dodgers really became like the city's team in that way, right? And it became — Dodger Stadium became a place that everybody felt welcome at. And the Dodgers estimate that more than 40 percent, probably close to 50 percent of their fans are Latino, right? So there's this real special bond between the Dodgers and the Latino community.

And when all these raids started happening, right, the fact that the Dodgers of all teams wouldn't put out any kind of statement, I think, again, the community felt very betrayed, right, I mean, because they're looking at this like, hey, look, we have been supporting you all these years. The team's good, the team's bad, we kept showing up, right?

And now when we're kind of in this moment of need, why won't you say anything?

Amna Nawaz:

Dylan, where does this go from here? Because I should point out there are some folks who will say, look, it shouldn't be up to a sports team to have to wade into these issues in this way. And there's a big gap between not allowing your grounds to be used for something and actually issuing statements of support or going further than they have already.

Do you see them doing that, going further or saying more on this issue?

Dylan Hernandez:

Yes, I think they're going to have to do something.

But the question is going to be, is that enough, right? I think, because up to this point, it kind of looks at this point that there were talks of protests. I mean, just this morning, a group of more than 50 business and religious leaders sent the Dodgers a letter imploring them to say something.

And so it almost feels, I think, like, hey, like, obviously, their fan base kind of came together, threatened them, threatened the Dodgers basically economically, right? You do a boycott, that could affect the Dodgers, their checking account.

And so is this just going to be a, OK, hey, we did something, now kind of go away type thing, or are the Dodgers going to kind of take this a little bit more seriously and really kind of try to regain the trust of this community again that I believe feels betrayed at the moment?

Amna Nawaz:

We will wait and see. I know you will be watching too.

Dylan Hernandez, sports columnist with The Los Angeles Times, thank you so much for joining us.

Dylan Hernandez:

Thank you for having me on.