You can’t help but wonder what these guys would do if they really were taking back Falluja instead of abducting unarmed men and women trying to make a meager living. This has all the hallmarks of a Call of Duty cos-play convention.
Some carry passports to travel to the corner store. Others do not venture out at all, too afraid of the consequences. Bus ridership has dropped. So has business at taco trucks and fruit stands.
Fear and anxiety have gripped Latinos in Los Angeles to an extraordinary degree, upending the lives of thousands of residents. Increased immigration raids and patrols by masked officers have stifled one of the largest and most established Latino communities in America, causing what residents and officials describe as a Covid-style shutdown of public events, street life and commerce.
It has affected not only undocumented immigrants and mixed-status families but also many U.S. citizens who have lived in California for decades and who say that they are fearful of being swept up in the raids. Interviews with more than two dozen Latino residents, elected officials and community leaders in the Los Angeles area revealed the cultural, financial and psychological toll the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is having on a county where nearly half of the population traces their ancestry to Mexico and other parts of Latin America.
This is what we’re living with in Los Angeles these days. It’s what’s about to explode in cities and towns all over the country as soon as DHS gets all its money. I hope everyone is prepared.