West Hollywood removes Home Depot from approved vendor list amid ICE concerns

West Hollywood pulled Home Depot from its approved cooperative purchasing vendor list for fiscal 2026-27 after Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers asked that the item be removed from the consent calendar over alleged cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The city’s Home Depot purchases under the proposal were capped at $25,000 while the relationship goes under review.

The move came as the City of West Hollywood continued using cooperative purchasing contracts to cut bidding and administrative costs through already competitively bid agreements. City Manager Jackie Rocco recommended approving the other purchasing agreements while taking Home Depot out for further review, and Mayor John Heilman asked staff to return with recommendations at a future meeting. Those arrangements include OMNIA Partners, Sourcewell and California Department of General Services contracts.

Home Depot has denied the underlying allegation, saying it is not involved in immigration enforcement operations and does not coordinate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection or other federal agencies on those matters. The company also says its parking lots are publicly accessible, that federal agents do not need a warrant to enter them, that it does not grant federal law enforcement access to its license plate readers and that it has a long-standing no-solicitation policy.

The vote lands in the middle of a broader Southern California fight over Home Depot parking lots, which have become flashpoints for immigration enforcement, protests and volunteer monitoring. At least two Los Angeles-area Home Depot parking lots were targeted by immigration agents on June 20, 2025, and a Westlake Home Depot sting on Aug. 6, 2025 ended with 16 day laborers arrested after federal agents used a Penske rental truck in what officials called Operation Trojan Horse. In East Pasadena, volunteers set up a “Community Defense Corner” to watch for ICE activity and share “Know Your Rights” information at another store lot.

That pressure matters on the job because Home Depot stores are already tied to the construction labor market. CNBC reported in June 2025 that the parking-lot labor market sits in the middle of a broader construction shortage of 500,000 workers, a gap that can slow projects and change the conversations associates have with contractors, day laborers and homeowners. For store teams, a vendor dispute like West Hollywood’s can quickly become a front-line issue, with public scrutiny and customer questions landing where the company’s parking lot meets the sales floor.