Community members and organizers in a Los Angeles area Home Depot gathered to protest immigration raids at the store, as they suggest Home Depot is cooperating with ICE in their deportation efforts.
About 100 people on Saturday stood in line to purchase a single item, a cheap ice scraper, only to get back in line immediately to return the item. The buy-in tactic was only part of a larger demonstration to pressure Home Depot to “scrape ICE out of their stores.”
The objective was to temporarily stall the store’s operation and show the financial contribution that day laborers make to the company, and was organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Some protesters wore aprons similar to what employees wear in the stores, while others marched through aisles beating orange buckets like drums.
“Whether the corporation wants to admit it or not, Home Depot has become ground zero for this cruel, vicious immigration enforcement that’s taking place in our country,” said Pablo Alvarado, NDLON’s co-executive director.
A communications spokesperson for Home Depot denied the company has prior knowledge of raids:
“…We are not coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol, and we’re not involved in the operations. We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and often, we don’t know operations have taken place until they’re over. We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.”