She was banned from Austin FC games over an anti-ICE shirt. Latino supporter groups walked out.
- Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
During Austin FC’s home game last Saturday, fans in the supporters section wore all black and carried a banner that read, “No ICE in this melting pot!”
The overpowering sound of La Murga — a supporter group that also functions as a brass and bass rally band for the team — blared throughout Q2 Stadium. But a few minutes into the first half, the music stopped, the band put its instruments away and those same rowdy fans walked out on their team.
Joining La Murga in protest were fellow fan brigades Los Verdes and Austin Anthem.
Together the groups protested Austin FC’s refusal to take a stance against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids terrorizing the city’s sizable immigrant community.
The groups pointed to the club’s treatment of Daniela Silva, an Austin local who attended the team’s Sept. 26 home game, as the inspiration for the protest. Silva wore a T-shirt with the words “Abolish ICE” written on it that day — which was the club’s official Hispanic Heritage Night.
After finding her seat, she said, she was approached by Austin FC staff and was notified that her shirt went against the venue’s conduct policy due to its overt political message.
“Signs, symbols, or images displayed for commercial purposes for electioneering, campaigning or advocating for or against any candidate, political party, legislative issues or government action are prohibited,” Q2 Stadium’s rules state.
Austin FC officials said they offered Silva a complimentary shirt that she could change into but she refused and was subsequently asked to leave the stadium. She was also banned from attending games for a year.
In an interview with The Times, Silva said she wore the shirt to show solidarity with the Latino community. A week before that game, ICE agents shot Venezuelan national Wilber Rafael Garces Perez while he was completing a DoorDash delivery not far from where the stadium sits.
Silva says she was unaware of the team’s policy and said she didn’t think much of her outfit choice.
“The fact that this has blown up so much, speaks to how people are really feeling right now and how they’re wanting their institutions to show up,” Silva said.
In response to Silva’s expulsion, supporter group Austin Anthem called out the club on social media, saying that Silva’s “particular message being prohibited hits too close to home in this current climate.”
“In the days since [Garces Perez’s shooting], members of our community have questioned whether they feel safe and welcome returning to Q2. That should matter to Austin FC,” Austin Anthem’s statement continued.
Silva called the walkout “cool” and “brave” because she understood how big a sacrifice that was for die-hard fans.
“It meant a lot to have them be willing to give up a game to make a statement to Austin FC that they want to see [the club] be more vocal in supporting the Latine community,” she said.
Fittingly, the Austin FC fans walked out during a match against Nashville SC, whose Latino supporter group La Brigada de Oro didn’t show up for a series of home games in 2025 because of ongoing immigration enforcement activity in the area.
La Murga released its own statement after the protest, reaffirming the call for Austin FC to stand by the local immigrant community.
“We ask Austin FC to speak out — publicly and with conviction — against the injustice ICE is inflicting on Austin communities,” the statement read. “The very communities the club claims to support. The very communities whose faces fill your marketplace, whose voices fill your stadium, whose hands and hearts make this place what it is.”
The club confirmed to The Times that Silva was issued a 12-month criminal trespass notice by the city of Austin. The club claimed it later reached out to her and offered to rescind the notice but she declined the offer. Silva says that she didn’t outright reject the proposal.
Instead she said she would accept the rescindment offer only if Austin FC fulfilled three specific requests.
First, she asked that the club join the community call for ICE to leave Austin. Second, she wants the organization to make a meaningful financial contribution to Garces Perez’s support fund and/or to local grassroots organizations specializing in immigration and deportation defense.
Lastly, she requested that Austin FC petition MLS to change its code of conduct to not limit people’s freedom of expression around “political beliefs.”
When asked to give a statement about Saturday’s walkout, the Los Verdes supporter group told The Times it and other fan organizations are “having constructive conversations with the Austin FC front office about concerns our Hispanic and immigrant members have expressed about their safety while visiting Q2.”
Los Verdes said it hopes the talks lead to meaningful changes around supporter expression and the application of stadium policies.
Silva said she knew that the Austin FC supporter groups’ gripes with the club are not specifically about her situation and that it all points toward a larger problem with the MLS rules and the false neutrality of sports organizations.
In 2019, MLS forced Portland Timbers fans to leave a match after they waved the anti-Nazi Iron Front flag in the stands. MLS maintained that the symbol was political because it was appropriated by antifa. The sports league’s ban on the flag was eventually lifted after fans protested. MLS banned Palestinian and Israeli flags in its stadiums in 2023 after Israel revved up its military attacks in Gaza.
The MLS stance “silences resistance, solidarity and the courage that people have to speak up for what they think is right when it’s not the dominant narrative,” Silva said. “MLS is trying to be neutral, but there is no such thing as neutrality in politics, especially in times like these in the U.S. when silence in the face of oppression only benefits the oppressor.”
In a statement to The Times, Austin FC said it was committed to providing a welcoming, safe and respectful environment for all fans. The club reiterated that it has initiated and “engaged in several conversations with the leaders of its supporters’ groups to solicit feedback and answer additional questions.”
Austin FC is willing to listen, sure. But what will that yield?
Submit an ofrenda for De Los’ Día de Muertos print section
Día de Muertos is nigh and though death is central to the holiday, the Latino tradition also serves as a celebration of life and an opportunity to remember loved ones who have died.
The De Los team is honoring the memories of members of the Latino community for Día de Muertos by collecting ofrendas from readers.
If you would like to honor a deceased family member — human or animal — you can submit an ofrenda through this form and it may be selected to be featured in a forthcoming print and online edition of the newspaper.
And if you’re looking for places to partake in Día de Muertos festivities this year, check out De Los’ list of 50 ways to celebrate the holiday throughout Southern California.
Stories we read this week that we think you should read
Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times.
Politics and immigration
- Justice Dept. sues California, seeks to stop state from counting 20,000 ballots
- In 100th lawsuit against Trump, California challenges immigration arrests near courthouses
- Republican Steve Hilton leans on cheeky ads, voter discontent in long-shot campaign for governor
- California’s ‘No Vigilantes Act’ requiring ID from immigration agents blocked by 9th Circuit
- California EV owners, beware: El Niño flooding brings risk of serious battery fires
- ICE agent threw California homeowner, 72, into side of a car, attacked his daughter, D.A. says
- ICE rejects suggestion that its officers wear body cameras that automatically activate (AP)
- Texas prosecutor says ICE officer appeared to intentionally strike a man with a vehicle in Houston (AP)
- Omar says she won’t ‘be silenced’ by search of her home and blasts Trump’s ‘intimidation’ campaign (AP)
Arts and entertainment
- ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ at 20: ‘I wanted to see the kid win,’ says Guillermo del Toro
- In ‘Party Line,’ Cuban American poet Kyle Carrero Lopez takes a stand
- ‘I’m not pro ICE’: Danny Trejo responds to backlash over Daily Wire ICE movie casting
- ‘The De Los Podcast’: There’s no shame in the no sabo game
- Los Tigres Del Norte take over Tiny Desk with classic songs and a pro-immigrant message
- Aria Vega will bring ‘Caribbean maximalism’ to L.A. — and soon, the Latin Grammys
- Inside the candlelit L.A. church where emo lovers analyze My Chemical Romance lyrics
- As one charismatic Venezuelan conductor leaves, another arrives: Meet L.A. Opera’s Domingo Hindoyan
Southern California
- L.A. voters worry about outside influence in midterm elections, new poll finds
- Live chat: Our columnists analyze L.A.’s mayoral debate
- No ‘back to normal’ at Franklin High as campus grapples with trauma after student’s death
- A reporter on why the L.A. City Hall audio leak scandal should still matter
- Wind gusts up to 70 mph expected to hit Southern California, escalating fire risk
- AI robots are roaming L.A. grocery store aisles. Shoppers and workers are worried
