LA Dodgers urged to snub visit to Donald Trump's White House amid ICE controversy

Citing ongoing ICE raids throughout Los Angeles, day laborers and immigrant rights groups are calling on the World Series-champion Dodgers to decline President Donald Trump’s White House invitation following last week’s epic Game 7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

‘By visiting a president who has used his power to harm the most vulnerable, the team would be turning its back on the very people who fill the stadiums, wear the jerseys, and give this team its heart,’ read an open letter from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

The group claims to have sent out 5,600 letters on the subject with plans to post another 800 more. Furthermore, All Saints Church in Pasadena held a public demonstration Wednesday calling for the Dodgers to skip the customary White House visit – a trip the team made earlier this year to commemorate its 2024 World Series title.

The outdoor news conference included a poster inspired by artist Sergio D. Robleto’s painting of an ICE officer arresting late Mexican icon and legendary Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. As Robleto wrote online, the piece ‘is a reflection of the struggle of the community coming to terms with the realities of ICE raids and their disappointment with how the Dodgers have responded.’

Protestors specifically called out Dodgers chairman and controlling owner Mark Walter, whose financial services firm, Guggenheim Partners, is invested in the private prison company Geo Group.

Geo Group is one of several private companies operating ICE detention centers.

A parallel MoveOn.com petition has called for Walter and Guggenheim to divest from Geo Group.

The Daily Mail has reached out to both the Dodgers and the White House for comment on the petition.

ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as well as other federal law enforcement agencies have performed hundreds of raids throughout Los Angeles county since May, but critics have accused officers of human rights abuses and even arresting U.S. citizens.

More than 170 US citizens have been held by ICE agents, according to a recent report by ProPublica, and that includes LA-area man, George Retes, an American combat veteran arrested while working security on a legal marijuana farm. Retes told ProPublica officers knew he was American, but ‘they didn’t care.’

In June, the Dodgers said they blocked ICE agents from entering the Dodger Stadium parking lot in a defiant stand against Trump’s immigration crackdown. 

However, Department of Homeland Security claimed the agents were not ICE, but Customs and Border Protection officers who were on the scene for ‘unrelated’ reasons that were never specified.

By that time the Dodgers were already facing criticism in Los Angeles for their June visit to the White House to celebrate their 2024 World Series title. The Dodgers also visited the Joe Biden White House in 2021 to celebrate the team’s 2020 championship.

A city founded under Spanish rule and later part of Mexico, Los Angeles has been part of the United States since 1848 but remains largely inhabited by people of Mexican descent.

‘Los Angeles is a city built by immigrants, working families, and dreamers,’ read a post from the Day Laborer Network asking supporters to sign a petition. ‘We celebrate our champions, but we also stand for justice, dignity, and love for our community. ‘Dodgers, stay with us. Stand with the city that has always stood with you.’