By Natasha Chen and Kyle Feldscher, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) — After about two weeks of building public pressure for the Los Angeles Dodgers to speak out against immigration raids throughout the metro area, the team announced on Friday a partnership with the city to commit $1 million to assist families of impacted immigrants – a statement that was delayed by one day after dozens of federal law enforcement showed up just outside the vast parking lot surrounding Dodger stadium.

As one of the City of Angels’ first major professional sports teams, the Dodgers are a cornerstone of Southern California culture. Their interlocking LA logo is as iconic as the Hollywood sign, recognized around the world and worn as a symbol of pride by millions of Angelenos.

In times of crisis, teams like the Dodgers are usually a rallying point – a unifying force in moments of struggle. But over the last few weeks, as major protests popped up in Los Angeles in response to increased immigration raids by the Trump administration in the Southern California area, the Dodgers became a target of local ire. It was a tough demotion from being the subject of local adoration just months ago during a World Series championship parade.

On June 6, raids outside a Home Depot and an apparel warehouse in Los Angeles set off days of protests and, on some nights, clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement. President Donald Trump on June 7 deployed National Guard troops to the city to “temporarily protect ICE” – the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – “and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions” and to protect federal property, according to a memo – overriding California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the move a “brazen abuse of power.”

Families have been split, people were arrested by plain-clothes agents wearing masks and hats and Trump and his administration reveled in the chance to clash with Democratic politicians. As fear spread throughout Los Angeles, many of the city’s institutions spoke up to defend the undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers who were being picked up by the federal government.

But not the Dodgers. The team – whose stadium itself is part of the long story of the Latino experience in Los Angeles, given the land on which it sits was once home to a Mexican-American neighborhood that fought for years against being displaced – was publicly quiet for two weeks about the tension gripping its city.

The silence infuriated many members of the fanbase, who felt abandoned by their team.

“I just feel like the organization, as a whole, needed to say something. The fanbase is predominantly Latinos, and we have been supporting them forever,” said Amanda Carrera, a Dodgers fan who was demonstrating outside of Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Times reported that the team would be breaking that silence with a plan to support immigrant communities in the city.

A few dozen people were also protesting as the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres. They shouted to keep “ICE out of LA” and “ICE out of Dodger Stadium.” Many expressed anger toward the Dodger organization for remaining silent on the issue plaguing a core part of their fanbase. “And so why should we keep supporting them if they don’t support us?” Carrera asked. “And, as heartbreaking as it sounds, it’s like we love our team so much and it just feels like they don’t love us.”

A strange day in Chavez Ravine

It was against that backdrop that federal law enforcement arrived just outside the vast Dodger Stadium parking lot on Thursday morning.

Reports began to circulate that federal agents were present at the stadium outside downtown LA, sparking concerns the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was coming to the home of the World Series champions hours before a game against the San Diego Padres. Protesters rushed to the area and began chanting anti-ICE slogans at the federal agents.

In the team’s telling, agents from ICE arrived at Dodger Stadium and asked for permission to access the parking lots. The Dodgers said no.

The Trump administration’s version of what happened is quite different. US Customs and Border Protection vehicles were in a parking lot on the grounds, and one of them had a car malfunction that caused them to stay longer, according to an official who maintained there were no operations related to the MLB franchise.

The ICE account on X even called out the Dodgers directly, saying their post was false.

“We were never there,” the post read.

There has been an influx of CBP agents in the Los Angeles area on the heels of the protests against Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. The Department of Homeland Security surged agency personnel to the region, including border agents, to respond to those protests and many have remained in the area.

“This had nothing to do with the Dodgers. CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

An Echo Park Rapid Response community activist, who did not want to be named, told CNN that early Thursday morning, members of the community signaled “what they called a really heavy ICE presence at the Home Depot in Hollywood,” so they headed that way.

The activist said they saw two people being detained at a Home Depot and followed the vehicles in which the detainees were taken away to near Dodger Stadium.

They saw a CBP agent, the activist said, whom they had also seen and spoken to at the Home Depot. “I asked what they were doing. He responded they bring the detainees there (near Dodger Stadium) to process them,” the activist said. “They conduct their investigation there without public interference, (…) that they can’t do it in the Home Depot parking lot because the public makes it too dangerous.”

CNN has contacted CBP and ICE for clarification regarding the community member’s description of events.

Another activist in the area, Chelsea Kirk, followed what she believed to be ICE vans from the Home Depot to Dodger Stadium’s Gate A entrance. She later followed them to a second entry point at Gate E, where the unmarked vans and agents in tactical gear remained for a few more hours.

Protesters gathered at Gate E before dispersing in the early afternoon. Demonstrators gathered again in the early evening to protest outside Gate A, as the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres. They shouted to keep “ICE out of LA” and “ICE out of Dodger Stadium.” Many expressed anger toward the Dodger organization for remaining silent on the issue plaguing a core part of their fanbase.

“Why should we keep supporting them if they don’t support us?” Carrera asked. “And, as heartbreaking as it sounds, it’s like we love our team so much and it just feels like they don’t love us.”

With the attention on the presence of federal agents Thursday, the original plan for the Dodgers to announce support for the immigrant community was delayed.

Dodgers President Stan Kasten said Thursday that the delay was “because of the events earlier today,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Frustration and fear run deep in LA

No matter the agency or their purpose, the appearance of federal agents at Dodger Stadium is enough to create a high-profile event, given the atmosphere gripping Los Angeles.

Some businesses have been closing early, with more customers staying home. As the school year wound down, some students wept openly in class, worried about the future of their families. Relatives stayed away from graduation ceremonies, while some nannies chose to stay close to their employers’ homes, only taking the children around the block instead of public parks.

Rumors of where ICE will be or how it will be meeting the White House’s demands for more arrests have been rife, not just in LA but around the country. With the FIFA Club World Cup attracting soccer fans to stadiums throughout the US, there have been worries federal agents could target people coming to the games.

So, when reports of federal agents being outside Dodger Stadium began to circulate on Thursday, protesters flocked to the team’s complex just outside of downtown Los Angeles. Images from the parking lot outside the stadium showed a line of police blocking protesters from being near the large group of unmarked federal law enforcement vehicles that had gathered in the stadium’s expansive concrete apron.

With the White House expecting ICE to arrest 3,000 people per day and Los Angeles-area officials telling the public they don’t have any idea where federal agents will pop up next, the entire area is on edge.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said during a news conference Friday the agents didn’t provide any identification, so they aren’t sure who they are or what they were doing.

“We’re not sure who these armed men are,” she said. “They show up without uniforms, they show up completely masked, they refuse to give ID, they are driving regular cars with tinted windows, and in some cases out of state license plates. Who are these people? And frankly, the vests they have on looked like they ordered them from Amazon.”

Carerra said she’s organizing a protest later this week and she hears mixed things about whether people actually want to be in public.

“The community has voted to protest. They want to come out and do it, but I think that there is the other half that’s scared,” she said.

“It’s scary when you see images and videos of people being kidnapped. You know, I mean, ICE agents, unmarked vehicles, masks covering their face. … We don’t even know who to trust. We don’t know, like, are these actually, actual agents or not, you know? So, there’s a lot of fear. It’s horrible. It’s so just heartbreaking.”

The tension meant many fans lashed out at the Dodgers for not having done more to express support for their fans, many of whom are Latino. The replies to the Dodgers’ X account were full of fans demanding the team say something condemning the federal government’s actions or – at the very least – express support for the immigrant community in LA.

Vice President JD Vance traveled Friday to Los Angeles, where he toured a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center before meeting with leadership and Marines. While speaking with the press, Vance defended the administration’s controversial use of the California National Guard in Los Angeles after a federal appeals court allowed President Donald Trump to maintain control over thousands of guardsmen.

“That determination was legitimate, and the president’s going to do it again if he has to, but hopefully it won’t be necessary,” Vance said.

The vice president is the highest-ranking administration official to travel to Los Angeles since protests roiled the city following ICE raids and troop deployments earlier this month.

Fans demand more from the Dodgers

As the Dodgers delayed their announcement, Al Aguilar stood outside Dodger Stadium with a sign that read “Los Doyers Silent? Silent” on Thursday afternoon. He said the team’s history in LA should make it more understanding of the pressure on the community.

He said the Dodgers buying the Chavez Ravine land at a discounted price and the eviction of the final families remaining on the land came with the stipulation the stadium would be used for the community. He said Latinos largely stayed away from the team until Fernandomania – the debut of Dodger legend Fernando Valenzuela and his subsequent success – in 1981 made fans for life.

That history isn’t forgotten today, he said.

“Nothing was said. They were silent about the issues going on, not even taking sides. They could say, ‘We believe in equal rights, constitutional rights, due process,’ without taking sides, just those things, but they didn’t say anything,” Aguilar told CNN.

He added, “With the amount of Latin American players that they have, with the community being behind them all these years, being (forgiven) – if you were thrown out of your houses and dragged out for a sports franchise that interrupted the community, you might have feelings about that.”

When singer Nezza performed the National Anthem ahead of a game last weekend, as “No Kings” protests were taking place around the nation and LA was enduring another weekend of protests, she decided to do so in Spanish. What sparked more outrage against the Dodgers was the fact that she said a Dodgers employee specifically asked her not to.

“I didn’t really see an issue with it and I wanted people to know that I’m with them and I’m standing by them,” Nezza told CNN on Tuesday.

An unidentified person, who Nezza says is a Dodgers employee, can be heard on a video saying to the singer, “We are going to do the song in English today, so I’m not sure if that wasn’t relayed.”

Following her performance, the Dodgers employee – who she would not name – called Nezza’s manager almost immediately and told them to never call or email them again, and their client was not welcome back, according to the singer.

The Dodgers have said publicly there are “no consequences or hard feelings” regarding her performance and she is not banned from – and is welcome to return to – the stadium.

Nezza, whose parents are both immigrants, said she hasn’t been contacted by the team and doesn’t plan on attending the stadium again.

“I don’t feel welcome to come back,” she said.

Carerra said that attitude from the team confused and angered many fans.

“That’s kind of what’s been the confusion because they have spoken out against or regarding other social issues before,” she told CNN. “They’ve made statements before about things, and so, you know, the fact that it’s taking them this long is just, it’s very confusing, and it hurts.”

‘Can we even trust them?’

Frustration with the Dodgers could ease among fans after Thursday’s confrontation with the Trump administration and the club’s new pledge of support for immigrant families.

Gary Lee, the founder of DodgersNation.com, said silence is the Dodgers’ “default position” on the immigration crackdown, but the announcement by the team on how it plans to assist immigrants in the area was a relief.

“The Dodgers have arguably been more culturally influential to the city of Los Angeles” than other sports franchises, Lee said, “so there seems to be more responsibility to the community on their shoulders than any other franchise, including the Lakers.”

While the planned announcement didn’t immediately materialize after Thursday’s incident with federal agents, the Dodgers on Friday ended up announcing “$1 million toward direct financial assistance for families of immigrants impacted by recent events in the region” with “additional announcements with local community and labor organizations” to be shared in the coming days.

“What’s happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,” Kasten, the Dodgers president, said Friday. “We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and uplift the communities of Greater Los Angeles.”

Part of the calls for action came from more than 50 Los Angeles leaders who wrote an open letter asking the team to denounce ICE raids.

In response to the Friday announcement, Reverend Zach Hoover, Executive Director of LA Voice, federation of PICO California, said, “The Dodgers have taken a meaningful step toward addressing the fear in our communities. By committing real resources to immigrant families, they’re showing that moral courage and civic leadership still matter in Los Angeles, and that we can heal the wounds of hate with the power of love. We pray this is just the beginning—because dignity demands more than silence, and faith calls us to act.”

But for some fans, the damage is done regardless of what the team says. Carerra told CNN the amount of public pressure on the Dodgers has her questioning the team in ways she never would have before. Regardless of the Dodgers’ statement of support or whether or not the club really threw federal agents off Dodger Stadium property on Thursday, she’s wondering if it’s all a public relations move.

“It’s like, can we even trust them? Like, can we trust them up to this point that what they’re doing isn’t just to kind of, you know, protect themselves, and that sucks. I hate that it has to get to this point,” she said.

CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to note the Dodgers were not the first major professional sports team in Los Angeles.

CNN’s Diego Mendoza, Martin Goillandeau, Rebekah Riess, Jacob Lev and Taylor Romine contributed to this report.

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