Immigrant Advocates Demand Action After ICE Targets Day Laborers at Home Depot

Immigrant-rights organizers in Phoenix pressed Home Depot to stop what they described as federal immigration enforcement staging at store parking lots, saying agents have singled out day laborers who gather to seek work. Salvador Reza, 74, of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio told reporters, "We’re calling again on Home Depot to get ICE out of your stores, get ICE out of your parking lots."

Organizers cited document reviews showing at least one instance in which federal agents ran license plates of cars parked at a West Phoenix Home Depot to identify people allegedly eligible for deportation. Speakers also said U.S. Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller directed the agency last year to target retailer parking lots. Erika Andiola of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said, "There was no statement from Home Depot. They said nothing, they have allowed ICE to continue to raid their stores and their parking lots, so we’re here asking people to join us." Advocates staged events in Phoenix on Oct. 28, 2025 and again at a gathering photographed Feb. 24, 2026.

In Los Angeles, Idepsca executive director Maegan Ortiz and other advocates demanded removal of three high-pitched noise-emitting machines installed in the parking lot of the Cypress Park Home Depot under a highway overpass. Organizers said the devices were mounted on lampposts on land owned by the California Department of Transportation and caused headaches and nausea for workers; one participant quoted as Hernandez said, "This is the people’s land... The people’s land is being used to torture the people." Workers told organizers the machines were off during a news conference and then turned on roughly an hour later.

Chicago organizers pointed to repeated detentions outside the Home Depot at 4555 S. Western Blvd. amid enforcement operations named Midway Blitz and At Large. Miguel Alvelo, executive director of the Latino Union of Chicago, described the actions as "unwarranted attacks" on day laborers, and Evelyn Aguayo, a community organizer and legal aid supervisor, said, "These are just hard-working people looking for jobs, and Home Depot is doing nothing about that." Local groups urged customers to boycott the big-box chain and instead shop at small neighborhood businesses.

Speakers in Phoenix asked specific members of Arizona’s congressional delegation to open investigations. Reza singled out Representatives and Senators by name and said, "And to the members of Congress and other public elected officials: We’re asking you to hold hearings, to do something, so that we can get the truth out." He also advised day laborers who spot agents not to run and to walk calmly away from the area to avoid pursuit.

Advocates from NDLON, Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio, Idepsca, Latino Union of Chicago, Proyecto Progresso and other groups said they will press for congressional hearings, removal of noise devices, and public pressure on Home Depot to block enforcement inside stores and parking lots. The organizers framed the demand as corporate accountability tied to how, in their view, "Those corporations benefit from our dollars.