Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores released a statement Saturday, condemning what he called “masked abductions” amid immigration raids across Los Angeles County, and directing police to intervene in unlawful or unauthorized operations.
“These are not lawful arrests. These are abductions,” said Mayor Flores. “For more than a week, we have witnessed families being torn apart, children left without parents, and residents vanishing without explanation. Men dressed in tactical gear, operating unmarked vehicles without displaying credentials or agency affiliation, have infiltrated our neighborhoods in direct violation of our community’s values, civil rights, and the basic principles of due process.”
Last week, a raid on a Huntington Park home, attended by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, caused outrage in the community. The agency said that the federal immigration agents were targeting a man with a criminal record inside the home, but when about a half-dozen vehicles carrying heavily armed, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents converged on the home, it was occupied by a 28-year-old pregnant mother of four…