Latest news with #daylaborers
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
How Home Depot Parking Lots Turned Into Deportation Hotspots
As President Donald Trump deployed thousands of troops into Los Angeles last weekend, a national group that helps day laborers called for the city's residents to stage a parallel deployment. 'Go to Home Depot, any Home Depot near you,' said a June 8 statement from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, 'and stand with the immigrants who are being seized and taken away.' It's not even an open secret that Home Depot, with more than 2,000 stores across the US, is seen as a fixture in the off-the-books market for day laborers, the vast majority of whom are undocumented. It's been that way for more than a generation — roughly 30 years ago, the same group cited Home Depot Inc. as one of the businesses that needed to improve conditions for day laborers. Few other major American retailers are as enmeshed in national immigration issues like those that have boiled over into rolling street confrontations in Los Angeles and other cities over the past week.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
I outran ICE. Now I'm back on the streets looking for illegal work
When a black Jeep rolled into the Home Depot car park just after 8.30am on Friday morning, Abraham sprung into action. As Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents dressed in vests and helmets climbed out of their blacked-out vehicle, he did his best to warn his fellow illegal migrants camped outside the hardware store in search of work. 'La migra! La migra!' he screamed, before sprinting away from the scene. Dozens of people tried to follow him. 'I felt very scared when I saw them coming but I ran like a flash and they didn't get me,' he says. Like the 100 or so men who gather daily outside the DIY shop in Westlake, Los Angeles, that morning Abraham had been hoping to pick up a day's work from customers in need of help for their home improvements. Most of those he was standing with are undocumented. Nicaragua-born Abraham managed to escape but not everyone was so lucky. At least 40 men, some of whom had lived in the US for decades, were handcuffed and detained by ICE agents who had raided a string of workplaces and Home Depot locations that morning, sparking a wave of volatile protests which have gripped Los Angeles and spread to more than 35 other cities. Despite the pervasive threat of deportation, Abraham was back at the Home Depot parking lot on Wednesday morning to resume his search for work. The targeting of day labourers in Home Depots, workers at car washes and clothing manufacturers marks a gear change in the administration's attempts to ramp up its deportation efforts in order to fulfil Donald Trump's 'largest deportation program' in US history. While officials had initially focused their efforts on those with criminal records, Stephen Miller, the architect of Mr Trump's hardline immigration policy, instructed ICE field officers to begin widening their nets. Mr Miller has set a target of 'at least' 3,000 arrests a day, a steep jump from the roughly 660 daily arrests during Mr Trump's first 100 days in office. He is understood to have directed ICE chiefs to start targeting spots where migrants congregate, specifically naming Home Depot. It is a move that has drawn fierce opposition from not only Mr Trump's political opponents such as Gavin Newsom, the Democrat governor, but also from some of the Republican leader's supporters, with Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia, the co-founder of Latinas for Trump, saying the move was 'not what we voted for'. While demonstrations have brought parts of the state to a standstill, the ICE raids have continued at pace, with uniformed officers chasing farmworkers through fields and turning up at churches to arrest migrants. While the majority of migrants have stayed home amid the ongoing threat, Abraham, a father-of-two, who crossed the El Paso border with Ciudad Juarez three years ago, says he has no choice but to take the risk and continue his search for work at Home Depot. 'I'm not afraid to come... I have to work because if I don't work I can't eat,' he tells The Telegraph as he cools himself from the California sun with a pink plastic portable fan. Obdulio, another undocumented worker who managed to flee the Home Depot raid on Friday, had also returned on Wednesday despite seeing at least a dozen people 'grabbed' by ICE agents. The Guatemalan, who has lived in the US for 20 years, was frustrated he could not do anything to help his friends. 'You can't confront them because they're going to take you away, so what we did was shout at people to run and we kept running,' he says. Obdulio, 48, who did not want to give his last name, told The Telegraph: 'We are still in fear because we've heard ICE is still roaming here.' 'We're not criminals, we come to work honestly without harming anyone,' he adds. Standing on the other side of the Westlake Home Depot car park, Edwin Cuadra, who is from Guatemala and has a green card, recounted how he saw ICE agents arriving on Friday morning in his car's wing mirror. 'Those who don't have papers had to escape, they started running,' he says. The number of people out looking for work has since dwindled, he says, because migrants are terrified they will be caught. 'It's very bad,' he adds, becoming tearful. 'They are my brothers, like my family. They need the money to pay rent, to pay bills.' On the sixth day of demonstrations in Los Angeles, a largely peaceful protest of around 1,000 protesters briefly became chaotic when police on horseback charged at protesters and hit them with wooden rods before the area's 8pm curfew came into effect. Officers fired rubber bullets and pepper balls into the crowd before carrying out dozens of arrests and packing protesters into police vans, but the streets downtown were mostly quiet by 9pm. In recent days demonstrations across the city at times became violent, with some agitators setting fire to cars and throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks and rocks at police. Some of the thousands of National Guard troops controversially deployed by Mr Trump despite governor Gavin Newsom insisting they were not needed have been assisting ICE officers as they round up illegal migrants on raids, standing by with their rifles as agents arrest and detain people. The 700 Marines sent into Los Angeles by Mr Trump will also accompany ICE agents on missions, officials have said, sparking fears that the administration could further intensify the pace of its raids. Mr Newsom has warned the unprecedented militarisation of the state would spread further. 'Democracy is under assault right before our eyes,' he said on Tuesday. 'California may be first, but it clearly won't end here.' The Department of Homeland Security released an Uncle Sam style poster on social media on Wednesday urging members of the public to report 'foreign invaders'. As ICE raids continued in spite of the protests, on Monday morning a Home Depot in Huntington Park, around eight miles away from the Westlake branch, was targeted. Eduardo Baz, 45, who illegally crossed into the US from Honduras 20 years ago, was lucky to have escaped. He had been a safe distance away when he saw federal agents starting to detain migrants in the car park at around 7.30am. The only saving grace, he says, was that it was early so not many people had arrived at the shop. On Wednesday morning he was one of a handful of migrants who had returned to the car park hoping to pick up work. 'Of course we're all afraid,' he says. 'All these years later, they can send you home in one swoop.' 'You're never calm, you're always afraid they might catch you at any moment.'
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
How Home Depot Became Ground Zero in Trump's Deportation Push
President Trump's immigration crackdown is starting to show up in and around the parking lots of Home Depot HD 0.74%increase; green up pointing triangle stores across the country. The usual crowds of day laborers have begun to dwindle, scared off by increasing and unannounced immigration raids. These laborers often lack legal status in the U.S.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Activists demand release, fair hearings for 3 men detained in Pomona federal raid
Immigration activists representing several day laborers who were taken into custody during a federal raid in Pomona are speaking out, alleging the workers are being denied their due process. Activists and community members held a press conference outside Pomona City Hall on Tuesday, demanding answers and transparency after a court hearing was held for three detained workers. On April 22, at least 10 day laborers were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as they waited outside a Home Depot store, looking for work. The raid sparked concern as immigrant rights advocates protested the targeting of those they described as innocent civilians. Video of the raid showed Border Patrol vehicles surrounding the store's parking lot as the laborers were taken to an undisclosed location. Activists said three of those undocumented workers were later transferred into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and were being held at a detention facility in Calexico. From left: Edwin Juarez, Johnny Garcia, and Jesus Domingo Ros are seen in photos provided by their families. Community activists, immigration rights advocates and community members held a rally and press conference outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025, demanding that three undocumented day laborers who were detained in a federal raid be given a fair bond hearing and due process. (KTLA) Alexis Teodoro, a Worker Rights Director with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, spoke at a rally and press conference that was held outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025. (KTLA) Community activists, immigration rights advocates and community members held a rally and press conference outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025, demanding that three undocumented day laborers who were detained in a federal raid be given a fair bond hearing and due process. (KTLA) Home Depot store in Pomona, California. (KTLA) Community activists, immigration rights advocates and community members held a rally and press conference outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025, demanding that three undocumented day laborers who were detained in a federal raid be given a fair bond hearing and due process. (KTLA) A bond hearing for the three workers was scheduled on Tuesday morning for Jesus Domingo Ros, Edwin Juarez, and Johnny Garcia. 'I will remind the public that an immigration judge only considers two factors to issue a bond hearing: Is this detainee a flight risk? Is this detainee a national security threat or public safety risk?' said Alexis Teodoro, a Worker Rights Director with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center. But during Tuesday's hearing, Teodoro claimed ICE officials said the local immigration judge lacked jurisdiction because the men had been living in the U.S. for less than one year, making them ineligible for a bond hearing and instead, subject to expedited removal. Teodoro said not only were those claims false, but that none of the men are threats to public safety and a bond hearing is within their basic rights. 'All three men have been living in the United States for more than two years,' Teodoro said. 'ICE is trying to push through expedited deportations by lying to the court and denying these men the most basic rights, like the right to be heard. Looking for work is not a crime. Waiting for a job opportunity outside a Home Depot isn't a threat to anyone.' Arturo Burga, an immigration attorney based in the Inland Empire, shed more light on the case. 'If you don't have any evidence that you've been in the country for more than two years, you could be at risk of expedited removal and that's very fast,' Burga said. If evidence to support that timeline isn't found, Burga said their due process is limited. However, if they have indeed been living in the U.S. for more than a year, they'll have more options. 'They'll get an opportunity to defend themselves from deportation with an immigration judge, but that process is not quick,' Burga said. In a previous statement on the Home Depot raid, CBP officials said, 'Agents conducted an operation in Pomona targeting an illegal alien with an active arrest warrant. During the operation, nine additional illegal aliens were encountered and taken into custody. Several of those apprehended had prior charges, including child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, immigration violations, and DUI.' Immigrant rights advocates and community members held a demonstration outside a Home Depot store in Pomona on April 22, 2025, protesting a raid that involved the arrest of a group of day laborers at the location. (KTLA) Cell phone video from a witness showed several unmarked vehicles and vans reportedly belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection as agents surrounded a Home Depot store in Pomona and arrested a group of day laborers on April 22, 2025. Cell phone video from a witness showed several unmarked vehicles and vans reportedly belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection as agents surrounded a Home Depot store in Pomona and arrested a group of day laborers on April 22, 2025. Surveillance video showed Miguel Majin's father being surrounded at gunpoint and taken into custody by immigration officials outside his barber shop in Pomona on April 22, 2025. (Miguel Majin) Surveillance video showed Miguel Majin's father being surrounded at gunpoint and taken into custody by immigration officials outside his barber shop in Pomona on April 22, 2025. (Miguel Majin) Immigrant rights advocates and community members held a demonstration outside a Home Depot store in Pomona on April 22, 2025, protesting a raid that involved the arrest of a group of day laborers at the location. (KTLA) Immigrant rights advocates and community members held a demonstration outside a Home Depot store in Pomona on April 22, 2025, protesting a raid that involved the arrest of a group of day laborers at the location. (KTLA) Home Depot store in Pomona, California. (KTLA) However, Teodoro claimed many of the detained laborers did not have criminal records. As for the three workers they're representing, they intend to prove the men have been living and working in the U.S. for more than a year, that they should be released, and that they deserve a fair hearing before a judge. 'We demand that their due process rights are respected and that they are at least given the opportunity to post bond,' Teodoro said. A follow-up court hearing is scheduled for May 9. KTLA has reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a statement and is awaiting a response. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
