Coalition rallies to defend IDEPSCA at Cypress Park amid Home Depot dispute

A coalition of elected officials, unions, workers’ rights groups, faith leaders, students, residents and day laborers gathered outside the Cypress Park Home Depot at 2055 N. Figueroa St. to defend the Cypress Park Community Job Center, a day‑labor site run by the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA). Nearly 100 people turned out beneath the 5 Freeway overpass, holding signs reading “Protect our workers” and “Defend day labor centers! Boycott Home Depot.”

The rally followed an account by Assemblymember Jessica Caloza that Home Depot’s head of government relations and affairs called her late Thursday night to say the labor center would be served with an eviction notice. Caloza addressed the crowd, saying, “Ten minutes before this press conference, Home Depot has been blowing me up, my office and spreading lies this was just a simple misunderstanding,” a comment that drew boos. Home Depot spokesman Beth Marlowe denied the account and said in an email, “There are no plans or discussions about evicting IDEPSCA.”

IDEPSCA leadership warned of immediate harm to immigrant workers who rely on the center daily for work referrals and safety resources. IDEPSCA’s executive director is identified in reporting as Maegan Ortiz, spelled Meagan Ortiz in other accounts; Ortiz told reporters the center had operated at the site for more than 20 years, while other local reporting places its tenure at over 25 years. One organizer said the alleged eviction would “strip away the basic human rights of our immigrant communities,” and an unnamed long‑time member told local reporters, “This is like our house right here. And the company across the street is just trying to get rid of us. To disappear us. To get rid of the [day laborer] center.”

City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez framed the dispute in broader terms of worker security and immigration enforcement, saying, “As immigrant families live under the constant threat of ICE terror, Home Depot has chosen to displace a center that provides safety, resources and basic human dignity to day laborers. Los Angeles will not stand by while billion‑dollar corporations profit off our communities while discarding the very workers who make them rich.”

The property lease chain complicates resolution. Reporting states Home Depot leases the parcel from the California Department of Transportation and IDEPSCA subleases its space from Home Depot; a Caltrans spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Protesters also pointed to a prior controversy: late‑November installation of high‑pitched anti‑loitering devices in the Home Depot parking lot and a December 17 press conference demanding their removal. Advocates contend repeated actions at the site, including reported federal immigration enforcement, have heightened community fear.

No written eviction notice was produced at the rally, and Home Depot denies plans to evict IDEPSCA. The dispute leaves day laborers facing uncertainty over daily access to work and services while elected officials and worker advocates press for accountability from Home Depot and for clarity from Caltrans about lease terms. For frontline workers, the next developments to watch are any formal eviction paperwork, responses from Caltrans and Home Depot, and whether labor and community groups follow through on boycott calls or legal challenges.