Petition Demands Dodgers Cut Ties With Team Owner Over Reported Ties To ICE

As Los Angeles celebrates the Dodgers' historic ninth World Series championship, team owner Mark Walter is facing backlash from fans calling for him to cut corporate ties to ICE jail operator GEO Group. The controversy comes as a new MoveOn Civic Action petition, signed by over 3,000 Californians, urges Walter, who is also the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, to end the investment firm's relationship with the GEO Group. The company, one of the largest private prison and immigration detention operators in the U.S., has been criticized for human rights violations and its subsidiary GTI, which provides transportation for deportation flights on behalf of ICE. The petition, titled "Mark Walter: Sell your company's stake in ICE jails and deportation flights!", is rapidly gaining traction online as fans celebrate the team's latest win.

The petition calls out the disconnect between Walter's public image and the company's alleged investments. "On the MLB website, Mark Walter is called 'an investor, conservationist, and social-justice advocate,'" the petition reads. "Mark, stand with your loyal fans and drop GEO Group! Go Blue!"

It continues:

“With the World Series headed to the City of Angels, we need to make sure the Dodgers' owner loves ALL Angelenos back. Forty percent of Dodger fans are Latino, the fans pay for seats, concessions, and gear to show our love for our city and our team. What we don’t want is for Mr. Walter to have anything to do with masked agents kidnapping our families and neighbors off the street. Dodgers and ICE don’t mix.”

The petition comes as resurfaced reports suggest Mark Walter's business connections to immigration enforcement run deeper than fans realized. During President Donald Trump's administration, when ICE agents, National Guard members, and Marines were deployed to Los Angeles, Walter reportedly already had a financial stake in facilities detaining immigrants targeted for deportation.

According to Black Press USA national correspondent Stacy Brown, Walter's financial services firm, Guggenheim Partners, holds a 0.38% stake in GEO Group, the private prison company that secured lucrative government contracts to build and operate ICE detention centers.

Many Latino Dodgers fans, who make up a large part of the team's home crowd, have expressed disappointment with what they describe as the organization's "muted" response to recent ICE raids in Los Angeles.

Advocates say the Dodgers' silence and Walter's reported financial ties risk alienating a devoted fanbase in one of the nation's most diverse cities. "This isn't about politics, it's about people," one Los Angeles resident commented under the petition. "We love the Dodgers, but the team needs to love its city back."

It's a sentiment that cuts deep, given how central Latino culture is to the Dodgers' identity. From mariachi performances at post-season games to heritage nights celebrating Mexican, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan fans, and even trademarking their Spanish nickname "Los Doyers" for a bestselling merch line, the franchise has long built its legacy on embracing and honoring its Latino supporters.

Tensions between the Dodgers organization and segments of their Latino fanbase deepened earlier this year after Dominican American artist Nezza revealed she was discouraged from performing the national anthem in Spanish.

The request reportedly came from team executives amid a period of heightened ICE activity across Los Angeles, a move many fans found disheartening given the team's long-standing connection to Hispanic culture. Defying the instruction, Nezza went ahead and sang the anthem in Spanish, earning widespread support online for what many viewed as a quietly powerful act of defiance.

The controversy resurfaced weeks later when the Dodgers' leadership traveled to Washington, D.C., for a White House visit with President Donald Trump.

As CEO of Guggenheim Partners, Walter oversees a firm managing more than $345 billion in assets for corporations, pension funds, and high-net-worth clients. According to the petition, the company invests in GEO Group, which projects that ICE-related transportation contracts could generate $40–50 million in new revenue.

While Guggenheim Partners has not responded publicly to the claims, the growing attention has fans demanding transparency and accountability from the team's ownership.

Check out the petition here.