The historic and financial stakes behind the 2028 L.A. Olympics
In less than a thousand days, Los Angeles will host the summer Olympics. Many cities worldwide have been put into debt by the games, so what could they mean for L.A.? LAist reporter Libby Rainey joins Imperfect Paradise to discuss the history of the games when LA last hosted them, the financial outlook for the city, and what role the federal government might play.
When the Olympics and Paralympics come to town in 2028, they'll bring a massive security operation with them.
Putting on the Games is the equivalent of hosting seven Super Bowls every day for a month, according to organizers. The events will sprawl across Southern California, filling L.A.'s many sports arenas and drawing an expected 15 million people. Law enforcement agencies are preparing for the arrival of athletes and crowds from around the world.
The federal government leads that effort, designating the Olympic Games as a top security priority, allocating $1 billion to security costs and coordinating with state and local agencies to prepare for the Games.
How these plans will look in action remains to be seen.
But critics are worried about what the federal government's presence will mean for a region already reeling from ICE raids and the deployment of National Guard troops on the city's streets. They're also concerned about a coming influx of cash for local law enforcement agencies, and what new technologies police departments may acquire ahead of the mega-events.
"What we've already seen with respect to immigration enforcement and with respect to 'crime control' from this administration should shock the conscience of everybody," said Mohammad Tajsar, a senior attorney with the ACLU of Southern California and an expert on national security.
Has LA seen this heightened security before?
Last year, the Secretary of Homeland Security designated the Olympics a "national special security event," which means the federal government will steer the security plan and coordinate with state and local law enforcement.
Angelenos looking for a preview of what this might look like in 2028 can turn to the 1984 Games as a reference.
The last time L.A. played host, the streets were packed with local and federal agents and National Guard troops, and a fleet of more than one hundred helicopters patrolled the sky. A reporter for a Japanese news service told the New York Times that the city almost resembled a military base.
"If there is a distinctive sound so far to the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, it is the chop-chop noise of helicopter rotor blades whirling in the warm southern California air," the Times reporter, Robert Lindsey, wrote.
Zev Yaroslavsky, who was on the City Council when it negotiated the 1984 Olympic Games, said security at the Olympics has become one of the major expenses of hosting the Games.
"Ever since the 1972 terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics, the Olympics have had a bull's-eye on them for every terrorist group, every violent political group who wanted to make a statement," Yaroslavsky said. "So you have to have myriad intelligence operations going [at the] federal level, the local level, you've got to have preventive security."
What's the federal government's current approach?
Concerns about what this type of security apparatus will mean for the city have dogged the Games since L.A. was named a host city. Now, the federal government's role in the upcoming Olympic Games is raising even more eyebrows.
Federal agents and National Guard troops have already camped out in L.A. this summer. At a recent press conference announcing a security task force for the 2028 Olympics, President Donald Trump said he would deploy troops during the Games in Los Angeles, if he deemed it necessary.
At a Congressional committee hearing on security for special events like the World Cup and Olympics this summer, New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou said she was concerned that recent immigration sweeps would scare people off.
"I am also worried that the administration's treatment of immigrants have sent the message to the world that you are not welcome here," she told the committee.
Is federal support necessary?
The federal agency leading Olympics security is the Secret Service, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. That's standard operating procedure for such a high profile event, and officials say the federal government's support is critical to a successful and safe Olympic Games.
A Secret Service spokesperson in a statement said that preparation for the Games is a joint effort and that more information regarding specific security measures will be released once available.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass' office said that local law enforcement is meeting regularly with state and federal agencies as part of the "national special security" designation to prepare for the Olympics.
Lisa Derderian, a spokesperson for the city of Pasadena, which will host Olympic soccer and diving, said that the city works with federal law enforcement agencies regularly when it hosts big events such as the annual Rose Bowl, and that a similar level of coordination will be needed to pull off the Olympic Games.
"We do rely on them," she said. " They are a tremendous asset for us for high profile events, and they're standard protocol."
Derderian said federal law enforcement aids the city with things like technology and preparation ahead of the event. She emphasized that while that means coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security, the city isn't working with Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She offered one example in Pasadena: TSA agents are often stationed at Metro stops during concerts and football games. Derderian said this summer the city received phone calls about those federal agents from people concerned about ICE.
" We have quickly clarified that these are resources that are here to assist us, that we use them for all large scale events," she said. " It's just educating the public, letting them know that these resources do assist us, do keep our community safe, and that's our priority."
What are the concerns?
Some community groups are more leery. Eric Sheehan, a member of the anti-Olympics organization NOlympics LA, said the group has been hosting community meetings about the role of the federal government in Olympics security. He said since immigration raids ramped up in L.A., he's seen growing interest in the Olympics "national special security event" designation.
" We need to teach as many Angelenos as we can about these security concerns," he said. "I don't think people understand that inviting the Olympics means inviting more of this violent policing."
Chauncee Smith with the racial justice organization Catalyst California said the ongoing presence of federal agents in Los Angeles is a warning about what the Olympics could look like.
" What we just saw this summer is a test piece for the potential devastation that could occur," he said. "It shows us that we don't need armed troops, tanks, and military-style weapons in order to keep Los Angeles safe."
Olympic worries aren't new
L.A. won its bid for the Olympics in 2017, during the first Trump administration.
Some members of the city council raised concerns about if the Games might provide an opening for immigration agents in 2021. During a meeting that included a vote on Olympics public safety, a city staffer told the council that the "national special security event" designation does not override local public safety policy. L.A. is a sanctuary city, and the Los Angeles Police Department has a long-standing policy that prohibits officers from investigating people due to their immigration status.
Then-councilmember Mike Bonin responded with skepticism. He said that while the federal government can’t tell LAPD to enforce immigration law, the city also can’t prevent agents from conducting mass arrests of people who are undocumented.
"At what point do we get to weigh in and say that in the huge, massive security apparatus that's gonna get created, there are things that are important to Los Angeles that we want to protect?" Bonin said.
John Wickham with the City Legislative Analyst's office indicated to the Council that the city wouldn't likely have much power over federal agencies during the Games.
"I would probably defer to the city attorney in regard to the city's ability to tell the federal government how it will run its business. I don't think that we typically have a lot to say in that area," he said.
What’s LAPD’s role?
The federal government isn't just overseeing security for the Games — they'll also provide funding to help local law enforcement agencies prepare. Trump's tax and spending bill signed into law this summer includes $1 billion for security, planning and other costs related to the Olympic Games.
According to a Trump administration official, the funds will go toward training, equipment, staffing and other costs.
That money will be distributed by FEMA through the State Homeland Security Grant process, Olympics organizers said. Where the $1 billion goes is something observers are watching with interest.
Jules Boykoff, a politics professor at Pacific University who studies the Olympics, said he expects to see law enforcement agencies like LAPD use federal funds for new equipment.
" A sort of underbelly legacy that cities have after the Games [is] an intensified police force with new tools at their disposal," he said.
In 1984, the LAPD used federal Olympic funds to buy machine guns, "infrared-enhanced viewing devices and a radio system for its SWAT teams," according to Max Felker-Kantor, an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies policing in Los Angeles.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Felker-Kantor writes that LAPD also quickly trained many new recruits to join a "crime-fighting project." The legacy of those policing investments well outlasted the Games, including in the notorious LAPD gang sweeps in the late '80s known as "Operation Hammer."
City Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson was an adolescent growing up in South Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics. In 2021, he told the Council that he remembered being proud of the Games, but also experiencing the enhanced policing that came with them.
"All of the sudden your parents are telling you not to be outside after 6, not because of gangs or because of crime, but because of the police," Harris-Dawson said. "The Olympics open up a door for law enforcement agencies to pursue things that might not be supported in a regular setting."
Mohammad Tajsar with the ACLU said he's particularly concerned about the expansion of new forms of technology that may come to L.A. as part of Olympics security: facial recognition, drones and CCTV.
LAist reached out to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which directed questions to the Secret Service. LAist also sent questions to the Los Angeles Police Department, including if it plans to request new equipment to aid with policing ahead of the games.
An LAPD spokesperson responded saying, "Due to things constantly changing we do not have answers to your questions."
This week, Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive directive to speed up the hiring of more police officers, citing the coming World Cup and Olympic Games.
