Latino civil rights group pushes Home Depot to limit ICE presence

Desmond Milligan · August 19

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is urging Home Depot to limit the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at its stores amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

LULAC, in a Tuesday press release, said its national president, Roman Palomares, asked Home Depot CEO Ted Decker “to establish a nationwide corporate policy denying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal enforcement agencies access to Home Depot properties unless presented with a valid court-issued warrant and proper advance notice.”

“Day laborers and families must not be subjected to the fear of being hunted down in parking lots while pursuing honest work,” Palomares said in the release.

He also noted that the Fortune 500 company benefits from labor from the communities that have been targeted by an uptick in deportation orders.

“With its size, reach, and influence, the company cannot claim neutrality — it has both the authority and the obligation to act decisively,” Palomares continued. “To allow ICE to operate unchecked on its properties is not passive; it is complicity.”

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that an immigration raid in Los Angeles involved a Penske truck driver at a Home Depot saying he was seeking workers, according to a day laborer.

Multiple Border Patrol agents leaped from the back of the truck while workers surrounded it and more than a dozen were arrested, according to the L.A. Times.

“This week, Border Patrol conducted a targeted raid, dubbed Trojan Horse, in Los Angeles at a Home Depot that resulted in the arrest of 16 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua,” a DHS spokesperson told The Hill in an emailed statement earlier this month. “Federal law enforcement will continue utilizing all resources to arrest criminal illegal aliens and keep Americans safe.”

The Hill has reached out to ICE for comment.

Home Depot spokesperson Sarah McDonald said in a statement the company is not notified ahead of time when ICE activities “are going to happen.” In many cases, she added, “we don’t know that arrests have taken place until after they’re over.”

“We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate,” she added.

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