Dodgers will attend White House ceremony celebrating World Series win amid ongoing ICE tension: report
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The Los Angeles Dodgers will accept an invitation to the White House for a ceremony to celebrate their 2025 World Series victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
A White House official told the New York Post the team has been in touch about a visit and the plan to attend. A date has not yet been set.
There were calls for the team to forgo the traditional White House celebration due to ongoing tension with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the country.
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Dodgers team president Stan Kasten also said this past weekend, “I don’t have any news for you on that,” regarding a White House visit, per the Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the outlet he intends on going to the White House.
“I am going to continue to try to do what tradition says and not try to make political statements because I am not a politician.”
IMMIGRATION RIGHTS GROUP PETITIONS DODGERS TO SKIP WHITE HOUSE VISIT AFTER WORLD SERIES WIN
The Dodgers, winners of back-to-back World Series after a thrilling seven-game bout with the Blue Jays, have attended their ceremony at the White House in their recent championships. The first was with President Joe Biden in 2021, and the team traveled to the nation’s capital for a meeting with President Donald Trump this past April.
Almost all of the Dodgers roster was with Roberts at the White House last year despite pushback from fans. Yet, players had the same views as Roberts — it’s tradition.
“The White House is an incredible honor to get to go see, regardless of who’s in office,” Clayton Kershaw said, per the New York Post. “We went in 2021. We went this time. I know there’s been a lot of stuff about, should the Dodgers go? All this stuff. But at the end of the day, getting to go to the White House, getting to see the Oval Office, getting to meet the President of the United States, that’s stuff that you can’t lose sight of no matter what you believe. I was super honored to get to go today.”
There were some, like Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol, who declined the invitation to stay at “my brown house.”
After the Dodgers defended their title in Toronto, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), an immigration rights group, wrote an online petition pleading with the Dodgers not to attend the White House if an invitation comes for 2026.
“The Los Angeles Dodgers have always been more than a baseball team — they’re part of the spirit of who we are as a city. The team represents our neighborhoods, our families, and our shared love for our diverse communities. But right now, our community, our city are under siege, we need them to stand with us, on the right side of history,” the petition read.
“Ask the team to honor the unity, integrity and diversity they themselves represent. They cannot stay silent as our families and neighbors face violence, detention, and deportation. By visiting a president who has used his power to harm the most vulnerable, the team would be turning its back on the very people who fill the stadiums, wear the jerseys, and give this team its heart. By encouraging the team to do the right thing, we will show the White House that Los Angeles stands for compassion, dignity, and solidarity with their immigrant neighbors.”
The Dodgers have had to deal with ICE in the past, announcing in June 2025 they turned away ICE agents entry to the grounds of their stadium, but ICE said that was “false” since they were “never there.”
The team said the agents had “requested permission to access the parking lots,” but an ICE spokesperson said in an email to Fox News Digital at the time that “ICE was never at Dodgers stadium, and thus never tried to gain access.” In a statement of their own after ICE’s denial, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that “CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly,” and it “had nothing to do with the Dodgers.”
The Dodgers are expected to once again be the favorites to win the World Series during the 2026 MLB season, especially after big-name in addition including All-Star closer Edwin Diaz and All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker.
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