The city of Pasadena canceled swimming lessons and other recreation programs in three of its parks on Saturday, citing concerns about the possible application of immigration by federal agents.
Lisa Derderian, spokesman for the city, said the officials made the decision after seeing positions on social networks that showed “what seems to be a federal application activity” in Villa Parke, a city park located north of the 210 highway.
The programs were canceled “due to abundance of caution” in Villa Parke, Robinson Park and Victory Park to avoid “the possible escalation of the conflict that did not announce the causes of the federal application activity,” the city said in a position on social networks.
The officials of the application of immigration and customs and customs border protection agencies did not immediately respond to the consultations of the times.
The mayor of Pasadena, Victor Gordo, said that men with long weapons, masks and tactical vests had appeared earlier in the day in Villa Parke, which has playing fields, a pool and other youth sports facilities. These men chased people who had stopped on the sidewalk next to the park's football field, he said.
Federal officials of the law have not revealed such activities to Pasadena officials in advance, Gordo said, increasing the potential for confrontations with residents or even police officers who could be called on masked men who carry weapons.
“They are not talking to our police chief, for me or with the city administrator,” he said. “It is introducing volatile situations in our neighborhoods and our parks.”
The city's announcement occurs a few days after federal agents arrested people at a bus stop at Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue, a few blocks from Villa Parke. That operation attracted an angry response from the American representative Judy Chu, whose Congress district includes Pasadena and other politicians.
Chu said an unidentified agent, in an incident captured in the video, pointed with a gun to a man who sought to take the video of the agent's plate.
“The ice agent jumped from the car and pointed with a gun as if he were going to shoot the young man, just to shoot a video of that tuition,” he said. “It's outrageous.”
Times sTaff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.
