Los Angeles CNN  — 

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the federal government are at odds over what happened on Thursday when federal agents were on or near Dodger Stadium grounds.

Reports began to circulate that federal agents were present at the stadium outside downtown Los Angeles, sparking concerns that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was coming to the home of the World Series champions hours before a game against the San Diego Padres. Protesters rushed to the area and began chanting anti-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) slogans at the federal agents.

The Dodgers then posted on X that ICE had come to the stadium and requested access to the grounds – a request that the team says it denied.

“This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled,” the team said in a post on X.

But not long after that post, the Department of Homeland Security stated that the agents who were at Dodger Stadium were not from ICE and their presence wasn’t related to the immigration crackdown that has roiled Los Angeles.

US Customs and Border Protection vehicles were in a nearby parking lot on or near the grounds, and one of them had a car malfunction that caused them to stay longer, according to a CBP official who maintained there were no operations related to the MLB club.

There has been an influx of CBP agents in the Los Angeles area on the heels of the protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. The Department of Homeland Security surged agency personnel to the region, including border agents, to respond to those protests and many have remained in the area.

“This had nothing to do with the Dodgers. CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Dodger Stadium is in a relatively isolated area located within a major metropolitan population. The stadium is in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and is set back from main roads by winding access drives to the acres of parking lots that surround the stadium. It’s unknown exactly what parking lot the federal agents were in when the vehicle had its malfunction – there are huge swaths of parking lots within stadium property and some parking lots outside that are used for overflow and stadium employees when the grounds are filled.

Video shown by affiliate KABC showed federal agents stationed on one of the streets leading up to the stadium. CNN has reached out to ICE for comment.

The intense reaction from the Dodgers, public, and federal government exemplifies the tension gripping the Los Angeles area right now as the administration’s immigration crackdown has led to protests against ICE and pressure on the Dodgers to do more to support their fans, of which a large proportion is Latino.

The Dodgers are expected later Thursday to announce a plan to assist the immigrant community impacted by the recent round of immigration operations.

The team is set to play the San Diego Padres in Los Angeles on Thursday, as well as host a celebrity softball game hosted by star player Mookie Betts in celebration of Black Heritage Night. The Dodgers are averaging more than 50,000 fans in attendance per home game this season, the only team in the majors bringing in that many fans per game. Thursday’s home game against the Padres is likely to be a hot ticket as the two teams are heated rivals in the National League West Division.

The federal agents action comes days after singer Nezza, whose full name is Vanessa Hernández, performed the US National Anthem in Spanish on Saturday. She said she was first planning on singing the Anthem in Spanglish, but with the ongoing immigration raids, she decided to do the song in Spanish only.

She says a team employee told her not to. That didn’t deter her, and she performed the song in Spanish anyway.

Her performance took place the same day that demonstrators filled streets across the country for the “No Kings” protest and as frustrations in Los Angeles continued because of ICE raids that took place within the past few weeks.

While the team hasn’t outwardly spoken on the ongoing frustrations of the ongoing immigration crackdowns ICE raids that have been happening in the city, star player Dodgers player Kike Hernández, a native of Puerto Rico, showed his support for Los Angeles in an Instagram post.

“I am saddened and infuriated by what’s happening in our country and our city,” Hernández said in part. “Los Angeles and Dodger fans have welcomed me, supported me and shown me nothing but kindness and love.”

“This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart,” he said, adding, “ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.”

CNN’s Sara Smart contributed to this report.