Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass visits CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, while campaigning for the upcoming election in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, May 22, 2026. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
AT A CAMPAIGN EVENT LAST WEEK, Mayor Karen Bass looked out at a few dozen immigrant rights activists assembled in front of television cameras and asked them to recall the day last summer when federal agents in tactical gear stormed through MacArthur Park. That military-aided immigration crackdown was, Bass said, one of the worst moments not just in L.A. 's history, but in the country’s.
It may have been a terrible moment for the city, but it was a powerful crucible for Bass herself. In the bruising aftermath of the Palisades fire, the mayor’s public image had taken a beating; her response to the raids thrust her back into the national spotlight, this time with praise.
But, Bass warned at her event last week, President Trump’s heavy-handed immigration tactics are far from over. If reality star Spencer Pratt is elected mayor, his administration could create more fear and uncertainty in the Latino community, without a word of protest from the mayor’s office when raids continue, Bass cautioned. Pratt, a Republican, has vowed to cooperate with the Trump administration’s enforcement actions.
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