The Los Angeles Dodgers are to visit the White House on Thursday, a traditional honour for World Series winners, but the trip has provoked unease among fans amid a series of heavy-handed immigration raids and protests in the city.
Juan, a lifelong fan and the son of Guatemalan immigrants, said he has stopped watching the team after his father was deported last year. He criticised the club's ownership group, Guggenheim Partners, for its stake in Geo Group, a major operator of immigration detention centres. He described paying inflated prices for basic items while his father was in detention, adding: "I don't want to give my money to an ownership that was profiting off me during a terrible time."
The visit has drawn criticism beyond immigrant communities. Bill Plaschke, a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, wrote: "The Dodgers do know they play in Los Angeles, right? Then why in the hell do they insist on embracing the person trying to tear this city apart?" The city is close to 50% Latino, and Trump has described it as a "trash heap" controlled by "illegal aliens" and criminals.
Natalia Molina, a professor at the University of Southern California, said she saw the team as a force for cultural unity, but found the prospect of players smiling with the president disturbing. "How do you reconcile that?" she asked. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he was a coach, not a politician, and that individual players would decide whether to take part.
