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.
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.
