The refusal to attend the White House will not come from Mark Walter, the team’s owner. To say the least, Walter is a businessman who could be said to have business ties with the Trump Administration.
Donald Trump is an enemy of Los Angeles. He has said it on numerous occasions. He has turned this city into a “criminal laboratory” against immigrants and Latinos in general. Even so, when the Dodgers won their second consecutive Major League Baseball title, it didn’t take long for him to post a congratulatory message on Truth Social:
“Congratulations to the L.A. Dodgers, a game won by incredible CHAMPIONS!!!” President Donald Trump posted on his social media network, Truth Social, early on Sunday morning. “A lesser group of men would never have been able to win that game, or game 6, for that matter. So many stars made it all happen. Also, congratulations to ownership. What a great job they have done. SEE YOU ALL AT THE WHITE HOUSE!!!”
If the Dodgers once again attend the White House to receive a personal congratulation from the president who has declared war on immigrants, one has to wonder where the dignity of the world champions lies.
Immigration defines Los Angeles. Mark Walter doesn’t have to look far to understand that—he just needs to look at his team’s roster:
Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki (Japan); Teoscar Hernández (Dominican Republic); Miguel Rojas (Venezuela); Hyeseong Kim (South Korea); Enrique “Kiké” Hernández (Puerto Rico); and Andy Pages (Cuba), among others.
The Dodgers would not have achieved this back-to-back championship without the immigrants on their roster—just as Los Angeles would not have its rich history without the immigrants who have contributed to it.
An online petition has been launched calling for community support to urge the team not to attend the White House. So far, around five thousand signatures have been collected.
Los Angeles is experiencing one of the most turbulent periods in its recent history. No sooner had Game 7 ended than ICE federal agents arrived at Dodger Stadium’s parking lot to make it a base for their operations center.
The refusal to attend the White House will not come from Mark Walter, the team’s owner. To say the least, Walter is a businessman who could be said to have business ties with the Trump Administration.
Mark Walter needs to understand something clearly: it’s not just about immigration raids—it’s the Latino heritage that defines the city of Los Angeles. If Walter thinks Los Angeles is “bleeding blue,” he should think twice. Before it was blue, Los Angeles was brown—Latina—from its origins to this very day. Not supporting Latinos is not supporting Los Angeles; it’s not supporting the city’s history and heritage.
The decision not to attend the White House must come from the players themselves. If, as they say, they have the best fans in the league, the least they can do is respect and stand in solidarity with them—off the field as well.
It’s not known whether players’ contracts include a clause requiring them to greet Trump. Right now, this is the moment when the community needs them most.
Months ago, after sharing an emotional Instagram post to express his support and encouragement for immigrants, Jaime Jarrín, the legendary Spanish-language commentator for the Dodgers, said in Spanish and English that it hurts him to see people being detained by federal agents.
“It would not surprise me if someone came to my door and asked for my papers,” said Jarrín, who served as the Spanish-language announcer for the L.A. Dodgers for 64 years until his retirement in 2022.
The Baseball Hall of Fame award recipient and Dodgers ambassador called himself a proud immigrant, saying he was gratified that the team had pledged to donate $1 million to immigrant families affected by the raids.
But since the Dodgers’ last visit to the White House, the Trump administration has alienated even more Dodgers fans through its enforcement of immigration policies in the Los Angeles area. And the team appeared to take a new stance against those policies.
In June, the Dodgers denied federal immigration officials access to their stadium parking lots amid a regional crackdown. Later that month, the team appeared to make a clear statement when it announced a $1 million donation to help families impacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
Following Trump’s declaration that he would see the team at the White House again after their victory over the Blue Jays, that $1 million donation now seems to represent a crossroads for the team. A visit to celebrate with the president would seem, at least to some local fans, like a public endorsement of the administration and the recent ICE raids.
“This is a moment for the Dodgers to stand with the families whose masked agents are tearing apart,” Los Angeles community groups wrote in a letter to the team after the federal agents attempted to enter the stadium parking lots. “Children who may have sat in their seats enjoying a game now come home with no parents to receive them and no word of their whereabouts or well-being other than reports of inhumane treatment in detention centers across California and the Southwest.”
An online petition has been launched calling for community support to urge the team not to attend the White House. So far, around five thousand signatures have been collected.
There is no confirmed date for the team’s visit. Let’s hope that, just as the community is showing up at the polls to stop Trump’s attacks, it will also persist and make its voice heard in this campaign.
