On a notable day in history, July 7th, 2025, a substantial force comprised of federal representatives and National Guard troops initiated a martial procedure in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles. Code-named Operation Excalibur, this event signified a pivotal change in the approach toward imposing power over the American proletariat. Led by federal powers, this operation entailed efficient planning and orchestrated execution on American soil, indicating an increase in militaristic intervention within domestic borders, ostensibly in the name of ‘security’ and ‘law and order’. A string of circulated confidential files revealed a damage assessment, considering the park’s considerable population density.
Recordings captured by astonished spectators and local residents unveiled a harrowing scene of heavily-armed federal officials and law enforcement teaming up to barricade the park’s peripheries as clandestine, militarized immigration officers marched in unison, prompting a panicked exodus, notably among children and their caretaking relatives. Infantry soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment of the California National Guard were identified on foot, horseback, and aboard military vehicles. Accumulated leaks confirmed the participation of 11 different federal and state entities, such as ATF, CBP, ICE, the DEA, FBI, FPS, HSI, the U.S. Marshals Service, IRS, LASD, and the LAPD.
What unfolded in Los Angeles marked a significant thread in a nationwide fabric. Increasing machinations are reportedly in progress to establish an executive autocracy at full speed, leveraging federal securities to alter the political paradigm. The current scenario smacks of a persistent, deliberate coup d’etat, aiming for a dominant class rule under the guise of an authoritarian regime. This setup leans heavily on submission, an environment of fear, and incremental normalization of martial interventions in non-military life.
MacArthur Park, often seen as the West Coast incarnation of Ellis Island, encapsulates the spirit of immigrant existence and tenacity. This hub houses many workers, including undocumented individuals, seeking refuge from the calamitous impact of American war campaigns and anti-insurgency activities in Central America. It is no coincidence that such a community, steeped in the backdrop of American intervention and large-scale migration, was selected as the epicenter for substantial federal security action.
Intercepted military presentations elucidated the 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment’s mission as furnishing ‘interagency site protection, mounted mobile security, and JFLCC Reserve support, mainly to the CBP and other federal entities’. The motive was not guided by an explicit law-enforcement provision or a clear threat but aimed at showcasing ‘the range and freedom to maneuver of federal law enforcement within the Los Angeles Joint Operations Area (JOA)’. In summary, it was a flexing of power, a cautionary lesson, and a preliminary run-through.
Increasing attempts are being observed to dismantle the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, a crucial legislation barring military involvement in domestic policing without clear constitutional or legislative sanction. The Act, designed to establish civilian supremacy, seems to be losing relevance as federal authorities are classifying protests in Los Angeles and similar cities as a form of ‘insurrection’. This categorization sets up the conceptual base for military input, avoiding the explicit invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807.
Although media accounts have outlined the operation as a ‘bungled assault’, it was unmistakably a thoroughly planned and coordinated military action involving nine federal agencies. Military trucks encircled the park and communication routes and phase lines were drawn, triggering a ‘HIGH’ threat level, hinting the park was perceived as the base for the MS-13 gang. The gang, born not in El Salvador, but in Los Angeles around the 1980s, particularly in vicinity neighborhoods to MacArthur Park, emerged in response to gang violence against freshly settled Salvadoran migrants.
These migrants sought an escape from a civil war situation heavily financed by over $1 billion in U.S. military aid which included technology, tactical instruction, and political endorsement for a cruel military dictatorship. The deployment of Operation Excalibur, while terminated prematurely, unfolded as an entirely planned military exercise. Despite incomplete execution of ‘phase lines’ due to communication missteps, the effort itself underlined a transformative stance: a switch from police raids to united military undertakings within populous cities.
Currently, the structures employed in military counterinsurgency operations in distant regions like Kabul, Baghdad or Gaza, can now be replicated in cities like Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago. Notably, regional authorities had a scant two hours’ notice before military presence was evident. Pertinently, immediate reactions from National Guard soldiers themselves evoke exploration. They described the operation as ‘senseless’, ‘dishonorable’, and ‘politically driven’, voicing concerns at orders and demonstrating resistance toward suggestions of establishing a permanent station in the park.
Such expressions are not to be taken lightly; they suggest the inception of disillusionment within the organs of state control and hint at a government declining in vigor, resorting to deploying military might against its own citizens. The conduct of the Democratic Party in this controversy needs attention; it has maintained an image of a defenders of immigrant rights while simultaneously endorsing policies that criminalize immigrants and cut crucial public services.
The latest budgetary review in California includes significant cuts from Medi-Cal, effectively denying undocumented adults access to healthcare. The state’s ostensible ‘sanctuary’ policies are riddled with gaps that enable continued interaction with ICE. Their apparent outcry against these operations is perhaps an attempt to retain political trust while adhering to the interests of financial entities.
A few days before this notable sweep, the President approved a federal budget that injects billions into immigration enforcement and detention. In a span between June 6 and June 22, over 1,600 immigrants were apprehended in Los Angeles alone. These measures form part of a countrywide strategy of intimidation, aimed squarely at terrorizing immigrant workers.
However, signs of resistance are emerging. In the morning prior to the operation, local inhabitants received early warnings and swiftly circulated flyers in the community cautioning immigrant workers. Protest groups trailed the troops, brandishing Mexican and Salvadoran flags. Their presence symbolized not just dissent against immigration control but opposition to the emerging militarized order.
The safeguarding of immigrant workers shouldn’t be entrusted to the political machine, which has proven its animosity toward the working populace time and again. The mission lies with the working class itself. The immigrant worker isn’t a ‘special interest’, but a sibling to every American worker. Their repression hints at wider attacks on democratic liberties, pay scales, and working conditions.
The need of the hour is not to appeal to specific parties or place reliance on the justice system, but to birth an aware, autonomous political movement of the working class, grounded in socialist beliefs and intercontinental solidarity. The onslaught on immigrants is a part of an international pursuit by capitalist administrations to redirect systemic crisis onto the working class. From Los Angeles to Paris to Santiago to Johannesburg, the oppressor remains constant.
The primordial objective is to organize grassroots committees in workplaces, localities, schools, and hospitals to uncover and counteract the state’s oppressive operations. These panels lay the foundation for a nationwide general strike, amalgamating all segments of the working class—immigrants and citizens, unionized and non-unionized, public and private sector—in a collective stand against austerity, conflict, and authoritarianism. Operation Excalibur portends a significant concern: Individual hostilities against the working class have already moved from planning to execution. The pertinent question is how the working class will respond with the organization, consciousness, and political leadership needed to resist.
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