Los Angeles:
Trump’s Show of Military Force

Jul 21, 2025

On the morning of Monday, July 7, dozens of immigration agents, masked, dressed in camouflage and heavily armed, descended on MacArthur Park about two miles west of downtown Los Angeles. As Humvees and armored vehicles blocked streets surrounding the park and a Black Hawk helicopter hovered above, some agents rode across the park on horseback, wearing black armor and face covers—apt for the name their higher-ups chose for this show: “Operation Excalibur.”

If the purpose of this spectacle was to arrest undocumented immigrants, it was not to happen. The park was empty except for a children’s camp. Flyers posted around the park in previous days had been warning residents of immigration raids. In about an hour, the occupation of the park was over.

But this surely was no misguided operation. It was a show of force aimed at the population. Trump’s Customs and Border Protection chief in L.A. said: “Better get used to us now, because this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime in Los Angeles.”

And probably not just Los Angeles either. Congress just increased the budget of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to 170 billion dollars, so it can send more masked agents in unmarked SUVs to rough up and arrest workers—whether they are undocumented or not, since DHS agents obviously arrest first and ask questions later. Like they did when they arrested a 54-year-old street vendor in L.A. on June 19. Not only did the traumatized, 5-foot-tall mother of two suffer a heart attack, but for good measure the agents also took into custody a man who was videotaping the agents from his work van.

The message is clear: federal agents can arrest anyone, any time at work or on the street—without showing identification or a warrant. Trump’s cronies like DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin know that the “murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles and rapists” that she claimed DHS agents are after don’t work at car washes and garment sweatshops. But the purpose of these raids is to terrorize and intimidate workers.

Today, their targets may be immigrant workers. But this kind of military operation can be used against any part of the working class—for example during strikes. But there are also signs that the immigration raids have stirred up outrage among residents, including among many immigrant workers who voted for Trump. Since the raids began in early June, protesters have been gathering around the immigration agents and their vehicles, videotaping them and telling them to “get the fuck out” of their neighborhoods.

The National Guard troops that Trump called in to L.A., supposedly to “protect federal agents,” are also showing signs of distress at the job they are assigned. Before a planned raid in Ventura County north of L.A., a Latino soldier told officers that he would not take part in the operation and was ready to be arrested. He was put on administrative duties instead. Some soldiers told the GI Rights Hotline that they did not want to participate in deporting people. Others said they did not want to be armed occupiers in their own country. It was even reported that, at the Guards’ Southern California base, security was increased because soldiers were defecating in Humvees and showers.

Many of these National Guard troops are workers themselves, taken away from their jobs and families to occupy L.A. They can join the residents outraged at the immigration raids to stop Trump’s show of military force in working-class neighborhoods, in L.A. or elsewhere.