Hundreds of protesters gathered at MacArthur Park on Saturday to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following immigration enforcement operations at Southern California Home Depot stores.
Protesters marched peacefully through downtown Los Angeles, calling for a boycott of Home Depot, citing that the home improvement stores have become gathering places for federal agents.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than a dozen people were arrested outside the Wilshire Boulevard store in the Westlake neighborhood on Wednesday during an operation dubbed ‘Trojan Horse.’ Border Patrol agents conducted a targeted raid, leading to the arrest of 16 undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
The operation occurred about a month after local leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, condemned the heavy presence of federal agents at MacArthur Park.
“This is important because it creates change, it lets ICE know that we are not going to be scared. This is our park. You all will not continue to arrest our Black and Brown people and our Indigenous people,” said activist Nathalie Dixon.
Saturday’s protest was organized by the Home Depot Boycott Coalition, representing about 50 different organizations. Their goal was to ask the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to protect residents and to remove those detained from deportation proceedings.
Video from San Bernardino also captured tense moments during another immigration operation at a Home Depot store on Thursday, according to NBC Los Angeles. Witnesses said more than six SUVs carrying armed federal agents appeared in the store’s parking lot. Day laborers who gather in the area fled when they saw the federal agents.
ICE has not yet responded to this protest.
