To the liberal media, the arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants nationwide by Immigration Customs and Enforcement was a planned stunt and somehow illegal. No seriously, Tuesday afternoon’s segment of CNN News Central invited Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) to discuss ICE and the National Guard troops present in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. Amid their knocks against ICE host Jessica Dean suggested, without any citation, that the operation had broken the law.
On Monday, law enforcement officials arrived at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles and were looking for MS-13 gang members. Gomez ridiculously claimed that the federal presence was just to intimidate and scare kids at a summer camp:
Yeah, I've heard that no one was actually detained, which makes us believe that this was more of a political and media stunt where they wanted to, I don't know, capture footage of show of force by having more than 100 federal agents in full gear. People can see it in military equipment, horseback, trucks, a show of force for what, 20-plus kids that were playing at a playground during summer camp. Some young as eight years old that –
So, it just shows that this wasn't about any group of individuals. They said it was about MS-13 gang members. I don't think MS-13 gang members hang out at a summer camp in downtown or near downtown L.A. So, I think it was just appalling and we need this kind of activity to stop.
Dean asked Gomez if the federal agents' actions were “illegal or beyond what the law allows.” “Is this simply them taking the law all the way up to the line?” she added.
Does Dean think it is illegal for law enforcement officials to go to the park to do their job? To CNN, people in uniform upholding the law seemed to be out of place at a public park.
Mayor Karen Bass made a post on X claiming that “more than 20 kids were playing” before the federal agents arrived. The Blaze’s National Correspondent Julio Rosas challenged Bass’s post and said, “I would be shocked if there were kids playing in McArthur Park before. Whole area is covered in trash, human waste, and a bunch of drugged out people.”
Gomez made a crazy victim mentality statement when Dean pressed into the narrative that people felt “intimidated”:
Because here's the thing. They are not going after criminals. They're going after anybody. That is brown, that looks like me, that can't pass as what they say. As a typical American. That's why you're getting people who are not undocumented actually arrested. That's the fear that exists, that anybody doesn't matter if you're a citizen or not, could be arrested.
Gomez stated “they are not going after criminals” when two minutes before that, he claimed the federal agents were after MS-13 gang members. Sounds like the law enforcement officers are doing their job, but is the media doing theirs or pressing into their biased narrative to fearmonger the truth?
Actually, Jimmy, there have been major MS-13 gang arrests. One arrest was on a high-ranking MS-13 leader who was wanted for multiple murders in Long Island, New York. Another high-ranking MS-13 leader who controlled gang activities in the U.S., Mexico and Europe was arrested in Hyattsville, Maryland. So yes, “this kind of activity” is necessary to protect American citizens.
Dean did not correct not fact-check Gomez.
Let this be another example of CNN pushing a false narrative when federal agents are upholding the law.
Click here for the transcripts.
CNN News Central
7/8/25
3:40 pm. EasternJESSICA DEAN: Outrage in Los Angeles after dozens of federal immigration agents in tactical gear and accompanied by National Guard troops, swarmed a city park. They appeared to arrive in armored vehicles by horseback and also on foot, yesterday. MacA,,,,,rthur Park is in a largely immigrant neighborhood.
L.A.’s Mayor Karen Bass says she rushed to the area, demanding they leave. Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California is joining us now. Macarthur Park is in his district. Congressman, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.
I first just want to get some information about what happened. Do you know if anyone was actually detained or how many people were arrested or detained in what happened yesterday?
JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Yeah, I've heard that no one was actually detained, which makes us believe that this was more of a political and media stunt where they wanted to, I don't know, capture footage of show of force by having more than 100 federal agents in full gear. People can see it in military equipment, horseback, trucks, a show of force for what, 20-plus kids that were playing at a playground during summer camp. Some young as eight years old that –
So, it just shows that this wasn't about any group of individuals. They said it was about MS-13 gang members. I don't think MS-13 gang members hang out at a summer camp in downtown or near downtown L.A. So, I think it was just appalling and we need this kind of activity to stop.
DEAN: And I'm curious to just by your assessment, you clearly you see this as just a PR stunt. Were they doing anything illegal or beyond what the law allows? Is this simply them taking the law all the way up to the line? Do you think this is, I guess, legal and okay?
GOMEZ: Well, I want people to understand that this is not what immigration enforcement used to look like before Donald Trump, before this term, you never saw a full military gear. You didn't see people on horseback. You saw them dressed very differently. So, this is an intimidation. They're trying to scare people.
Is it within the bounds of the law? Well, I don't know what law that they actually broke, but they did scare people in the park. And they tried to intimidate folks. So that's what we're concerned about, that this is not serving any real purpose.
They haven't gone after MS-13 gang members like they said they were, or criminal cartels. They're actually taking people off of those cases and having them go after hard working immigrants, people that work at car washes, at restaurants at day laborer sites. Have you heard of any major MS-13 gang member takedowns? I haven't.
DEAN: And you mentioned how scared people were, how intimidated they felt. I think for a lot of the country. Help them understand what it feels like specifically in your district. But I know Mayor Karen Bass has spoken about this as well. The general feeling there in Los Angeles for a lot of people who are quite on edge right now.
GOMEZ: I think one, a lot of Americans have traveled abroad like I have. I've been to Mexico when I was a kid, a number of times, and we were – When I saw troops everywhere in foreign countries, I was intimidated. I was scared. People with big guns. I never thought that that would happen in the United States. Would you have an active military on our streets? And that's what you have is this deep fear that's building and building and building.
Because here's the thing. They are not going after criminals. They're going after anybody. That is brown, that looks like me, that can't pass as what they say. As a typical American. That's why you're getting people who are not undocumented actually arrested. That's the fear that exists, that anybody doesn't matter if you're a citizen or not, could be arrested. And held in detainment for a number of days. If not, it also makes people scared that they're going to, you know, get ripped away from their families or their friends and their businesses.
So this fear is real because it can happen anywhere, at any time. But it happens to mainly people here. We're guilty until proven innocent. And even then people question us if we don't have a right passport on our hands.
DEAN: Do you think California and Los Angeles are being targeted here?
GOMEZ: Of course. And that's because Donald Trump knows that he wants to try to set an example with California. The kind of place we are. Remember, we're the state who has embraced immigrants, that understands the power of being inclusive of the entrepreneurial aspect of immigrants. We're the state that beat back 187 and Pete Wilson that turned the state from red to blue. He doesn't want that to happen in other states. So he's trying to take it out on us.
You know what? No matter what he does, we're not going away. We're not going to give up on our values. We're not going to bend the knee to him or to anybody else that wants to act like a wannabe dictator.
DEAN: What kind of power? I mean, obviously you're in Congress. There are other local California officials all the way from the governor to the mayor and others. What kind of power, though, do you all have to push back on this?
GOMEZ: Well, we know that one of the things that we want to do is make sure that people see and understand what's happening. The fact that he's going – who he's going after, that they're not criminals. These are people that oftentimes have no criminal record. He's going after children.
And we know that this is starting to eat away at his base. It's highly unpopular. Even Joe Rogan, somebody that's on the podcast side who has a lot of support regarding from the MAGA constituency. He even says that this is not what they signed up for. This is not what they wanted.
And one of the things the way we do it is we have to win public opinion more and more to our side. I'm not sure if he's going to stop, but we want to make sure that people understand the consequences when it comes to our economy. When it comes to who we are as a country and what it means in the long term.
I think that this is a dangerous path we're on because when people get comfortable seeing this kind of militarization of not only ICE, but the use of military on our public streets, it becomes easier and easier to do it not only in L.A., but across the country.
DEAN: Alright. Congressman Jimmy Gomez, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.
GOMEZ: Thank you.
