'We’re scared.' Latin American players on edge as ICE tactics intensify
· Yahoo Sports
GOODYEAR, AZ – As President Trump’s stepped-up immigration enforcement enters its second year, the violent images involving often-masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have left a very specific, very public group of Latin Americans in the U.S. bracing for what comes next.
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"This country gives you an opportunity to change your life," Cincinnati Reds star Eugenio Suarez said. "And now you feel pressure. Now you feel scared because you don't know what's going to happen if you're driving down the highway and somebody stops you. Even if you are a citizen.
“I’m a resident here, but I’m still scared because you don’t know.”
Major League Baseball players such as Suárez, who is from Venezuela, fear for their game, for their families, even for their own safety at times.
“We’re concerned,” he said.
With the start of spring training across Florida and Arizona, hundreds of major- and minor-league players from other countries are back in the U.S. to prepare for the 2026 baseball season. Training camps kicked off weeks after U.S. military action in Venezuela that overthrew the Nicolas Maduro presidency and the killings by federal agents of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Teams have addressed the issue in team meetings. Reds president Nick Krall, on one of the first mornings after the full roster of players had arrived here in Arizona, emphasized vigilance and taking precautions as basic as always carrying identification.
“The last thing you want guys to do is be in a compromising situation that could easily escalate into something it doesn’t need to, ever,” manager Terry Francona told The Enquirer. “As far as government stuff, that’s not my area. But I care about our guys.
“I don’t know if anybody has a great answer. But making our guys aware of it – or more aware of it – is never a bad thing.”
Twice last year, ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents showed up at Dodger Stadium, once in June and the day after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series parade in November. Dodgers employees denied access to its parking lots to the agents.
“We were all taken aback,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Enquirer. “You just think of it as a place where we play our baseball games. It was a surprise to everyone.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the past two World Series, have one of the most internationally diverse rosters in the league and the strongest Latino following among MLB fan bases. The Los Angeles Times reported last year that more than 40% of the Dodgers attendance and TV viewership is Latin American.
The first incident at the stadium spurred protests by activists and later, reportedly, a reluctance by some fans to attend games – at least in part over the Dodgers’ lack of more vocal resistance to the ICE activities.
Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas, who is from Venezuela, said last summer that he and other Latinos on the team identified with those in the community feeling the threat of ICE.
“(The city has) a big population of Mexicans, people from Guatemala, people from Honduras," Rojas told The New York Times. “And like them, we came here as immigrants, to work and chase a dream. And as soon as the game is over and the lights are off, when I take my car and drive to my place, I’m an immigrant, too. I’m here with my green card, and I’m concerned about my rights. What do I do of something like that happened to me? Or any of my family?”
Said Roberts: "It's a scary time."
Reds try to be 'out in front of it'
The second Trump administration reversed policy from the Biden administration, allowing for potential raids on previously off-limits institutions such as schools, hospitals and places of worship – often in so-called sanctuary cities. While that has not occurred, the possibility is cause for anxiety among players.
The Reds were one of the first teams to recognize the danger of these efforts for players and personnel in the cities to which they travel. The team’s human resources department printed identification cards that contained contact information for team support. Anyone not from the U.S. was advised to carry the cards with other, traditional forms of ID.
“We’re just trying to be out in front of it so that our guys are educated and have what they need,” general manager Brad Meador said. “Hopefully, nothing does happen, but if you were to encounter something we want to make sure that you have the proper identification and everything needed to let people know who you are.”
Suárez said those extra information cards “will help us a lot.” He added, “Baseball needs to do that more and more and more.”
Changes in immigration policy under the Trump administration include removing Venezuelans (and others) from the Temporary Protected Status program, or TPS, which provides temporary legal status to live and work in the U.S. for people from countries experiencing such unsafe conditions as war or natural disasters.
Suárez said one of his family members was among those who suddenly lost TPS protection.
“He still works," Suárez said. "But he has to be careful."
Suárez said he himself was scheduled to go through his U.S. citizenship processing in December until he was informed his application was canceled. His wife, who also is from Venezuela, had already completed hers, he said.
“They shut down everything, so I couldn’t have it. Because of the Venezuela thing,” he said. “It is what it is. I respect the decision.”
What’s harder for him to accept are some of the enforcement methods in news reports and social media.
“They need to be more gentle. They need to be more kind,” Suárez said. “It’s people. It’s human (beings). Not everybody is bad people. You have to respect everybody ... The way they’ve been treating people is so hard. …. That’s why everybody is so scared.”
What is Major League Baseball doing?
Baseball is the professional sport that is potentially most impacted by immigration enforcement policies with more non-U.S. players and − by far − the most Latin American players.
Dominican Republic and Venezuelan natives make up the largest groups of non-U.S. players in the majors. Of the 265 players born outside the United States on Opening Day rosters last year, 100 were Dominican and 63 Venezuelan.
The players’ union began reaching out early last year to international players at all levels to offer information and support, specifically advising members to be more vigilant in carrying their status documents anywhere they go, union officials said. The union also made available a team of immigration lawyers, 24/7, to respond to any trouble – an ongoing precaution this year as officials continue to evaluate ways to protect players in a climate with little certainty and no guarantees.
At a league level, MLB has tread cautiously in the new climate, trying to keep the Trump administration’s ear on relevant visa programs and travel issues, while largely leaving specific precautions for player protections up to the individual clubs, insiders say.
One member of an MLB team who did not want to talk publicly because of the sensitive nature of the subject said he fears it will take a high-profile incident involving a player, “something bad,” before the league gets more proactive in protecting its personnel. “I pray that doesn’t happen,” he said.
Other baseball insiders, including some who have been critical of the league office on other issues, suggest the league is working harder behind the scenes, through its robust security arm, to keep players out of the crosshairs of any stepped-up federal enforcement tactics.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told baseball writers last summer that the league had conversations with the Trump administration about border issues and was assured there would be protections for players, especially going back and forth between the U.S. and Canada.
“Look, obviously I worry about anything that could be disruptive to the very best players in the world being out on the field," Manfred said in response to a question from The Enquirer. "But the prospect of that disruption, given that our players all had visas, it’s speculation at this point.”
The Enquirer has reached out to the commissioner's office twice in recent weeks to see whether anything has changed but has not received a response.
The Chicago Cubs, which have the most players from outside the U.S. and the most Latin Americans, is "acutely aware" of the potential impact to the team's players, said general manager Carter Hawkins. Chicago endured a massive surge in immigration enforcement near the end of last baseball season.
“As the context around them changes, the context of support changes," Hawkins said. "Baseball’s certainly not immune to the different social things that happen over the last several decades, or maybe throughout the history of the game.”
‘This is such an amazing country’
Nowhere in the country seems immune from sudden ICE sweeps, or some of the political ramifications and ancillary threats. Less than a week after Trump’s inauguration last year, ICE initiated high-profile raids in nine major cities; all but one city had an MLB team.
In late September the so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood involved an after-midnight siege of an apartment complex, agents rappelling from helicopters, throwing “flashbang" stun grenades and using zip ties to detain whole families, including children.
In Cincinnati, efforts have been widespread but less visible. By the end of 2025, ICE detained just more than 6,600 people across the region, including a former high school soccer star from Honduras and an imam from Egypt.
As of the start of spring training this year, the only confirmed encounter involving a baseball player with ICE involved $113-million San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee. Lee was detained briefly after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport from South Korea in January for the Giants’ version of RedsFest. He reportedly forgot his documentation at home in South Korea but was cleared to travel after a brief delay.
Suárez, along with other players and team officials, say any concern they have is more directed toward the younger, lesser recognized minor leaguers. They're often less equipped to communicate in English – and don’t travel with the same high-profile, privileged means that big-leaguers do.
“They’re scared,” Suárez said.
Suárez said he knows of two who stayed in the U.S. during the offseason, with some financial hardship, rather than return home to Venezuela as they had in the past, for fear they would not be allowed to return.
Reds closer Emilio Pagán, a nine-year MLB veteran and South Carolina native, said teammates from Venezuela, the Dominican and Japan have more documentation than some minor-leaguers, and the major league players travel as a team.
“As long as we’re not going out of our way to be disrespectful and just kind of following the rules, I feel like there’s not that much to worry about it," Pagán said. "But I could be wrong. That’s just the way I look at it.”
Pagán, who lived in the suburbs outside of Minneapolis with his wife and two young daughters when he played for the Twins, said it “sucked” to see the “chaos” surrounding the ICE surge and violence in the familiar place.
“It’s not good to see everything that’s going on and the hatred,” he said. “This is such an amazing country. I’m not a big political person, but the positivity should be more, from either side of the spectrum.
“It’s such a great country, and there are people from all over the world that want to be in the USA. I think we should probably remind ourselves of that.”
Reds prospect Edwin Arroyo, a Puerto Rican-born U.S. citizen, doesn’t worry for himself as much as he thinks about the issue in relation to his mom, who helps run a high school in Orlando.
Part of her job these days, he said, is preparing students for how to react if ICE agents show up at the school.
“It’s not fun,” said Arroyo, who described his mom at times trying to calm frightened students. “It’s tough. I know my mom’s going to do the best for them.”
Whether or not MLB has any influence over immigration enforcement tactics, Suárez said, he sees the importance of “the good platform for us as baseball players, to be able to help people know (more).”
But, he added, “We need help with that.”
Specifically, from the league.
Until then, he stays aware and tries to help younger players. And keeps an eye on his family members such as the one who lost TPS protection.
“He feels safe. And that’s a good thing,” Suárez said. “I hope nothing happens. He’s a good guy. He’s not in trouble. He’s not that guy ICE is looking for.”
Too often that doesn’t seem to be enough. The Trump administration has been repeatedly accused in court of illegally deporting hundreds of people it allegedly wasn’t targeting – noncriminals with legal status and in some cases even citizens – with cases all over the country working through the court systems, many already resulting in rulings against the administration.
One involved the detention last month of a father and his 5-year-old son in a case that caused widespread outrage when the picture of the detained boy in a rabbit-eared hat and Spiderman backpack went viral.
“It’s bad,” Suárez said. “That’s why (people are) scared. I hope that changes.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: As immigration enforcement grows, MLB players face risks off the field