Pasadena cancels Saturday swim programs, citing fears over immigration raids
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The city of Pasadena canceled swimming lessons and other recreation programs at three of its parks on Saturday, citing concerns about possible immigration enforcement by federal agents.
Lisa Derderian, a spokesperson for the city, said officials made the decision after seeing posts on social media that showed “what appears to be federal enforcement activity” at Villa Parke, a city park located a block north of the 210 Freeway.
Programs were canceled “out of an abundance of caution” at Villa Parke, Robinson Park and Victory Park to avoid “the potential escalation of conflict that unannounced federal enforcement activity causes,” the city said in a social media post.
Officials with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs Border Protection agencies did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Times.
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo said men with long guns, masks and tactical vests had shown up earlier in the day at Villa Parke, which has playing fields, a swimming pool and other youth sports facilities. Those men chased after people who had been standing on the sidewalk next to the park’s soccer field, he said.
Reports of federal agents detaining people at a bus stop near a Winchell’s Donut House in Pasadena spurred outrage among some elected officials in Los Angeles County.
Federal law enforcement officials have not disclosed such activities to Pasadena officials ahead of time, Gordo said, raising the potential for clashes with residents or even police officers who might be called about masked men carrying guns.
“They’re not talking to our police chief, to me, or to the city manager,” he said. “It’s introducing volatile situations into our neighborhoods and our parks.”
The city’s announcement comes just days after federal agents detained people at a bus stop at Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue, a few blocks from Villa Parke. That operation drew an angry response from U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, whose congressional district includes Pasadena, and other politicians.
Chu said one unidentified agent, in an incident caught on video, pointed a gun at a man seeking to take video of the agent’s license plate.
“The ICE agent jumped out of the car and pointed a gun as though he was going to shoot the young man, just for shooting a video of that license plate,” she said. “It’s outrageous.”
Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.
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