Huntington Park, California – Mayor Arturo Flores has seen the mechanics of war up close. As a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Flores trained bomb-sniffing dogs and patrolled some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. But it’s what he’s witnessed on the streets of Southern California in recent weeks that he describes as the most disturbing of his life.
In the heavily Latino city of Huntington Park, where nearly every resident is of Latin American descent, federal immigration raids have turned everyday life into what Flores calls “a campaign of domestic terror.” Masked agents in unmarked vehicles have descended on parking lots, swap meets, and residential streets. Residents say they are chased without warning. Some report being targeted for the color of their skin.
“It is a level of psychological warfare that I’ve only seen in theaters of war,” Flores said. “It’s terrifying seeing it being displayed here in my city.”…