The KKK had a strong presence in Texas and California. The organization had adherents in rural communities in both states, and held major political control in large cities. In Dallas, where the KKK gained control over the city's politics, it sought to completely close off the border with Mexico. In San Diego, the KKK was led by many of the city's elite. According to Ernesto Galarza, a labor activist and professor, "Mexicans were seen as an endangerment to traditional American values. the clergy often ignored the Klan’s abuses toward Hispanics." The KKK in Southern California regularly lynched, tortured, dragged, and murdered Mexicans and Mexican Americans. Mercedes Acasan Garcia, a refugee of the Revolution working as a maid in San Diego in the 1920s, stated, “Since they were ragged Wetbacks, nobody cared who they were and nothing was done about it.” The KKK was also extremely politically powerful in Los Angeles, and in 1928, the KKK senior member John Clinton Porter was elected mayor of the city.