LULAC, the oldest Hispanic organization in the U.S., on Tuesday urged The Home Depot to deny Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) agents access to its facilities without a warrant after authorities conducted dozens of raids in its vicinity due to the regular presence of day laborers.
“Day laborers and their families should not be subjected to the fear of being chased in parking lots as they seek honest work,” LULAC President Roman Palomares said in a statement.
“Home Depot is a Fortune 500 company that benefits from the very workforce and communities now under attack. With its size, scope and influence, the company cannot claim neutrality; it has the authority and obligation to act decisively. Allowing ICE to operate unchecked on its properties is not passivity; it is complicity,” he added.
The construction products company has been a regular target of raids by immigration authorities, since dozens of day laborers, many of them undocumented migrants, who seek to be hired for construction or landscaping jobs, among others, tend to come to the area.
Such raids have been particularly frequent in Los Angeles, where they have sparked panic among workers, and have led to violent clashes between officers and protesters who condemned such police actions.
Last week, 52-year-old Carlos Roberto Montoya, a native of Guatemala, was run over on a freeway in the city of Monrovia, Los Angeles County, while trying to flee an immigration raid at a Home Depot store.
To put an end to this, Palomares called for a meeting with Executive Director Ted Decker to discuss policies to protect “vulnerable communities from raids”.
In this regard, LULAC recalled that the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team denied ICE entry to parking areas at Dodger Stadium, citing private property rights, and the Chicago Board of Education passed a resolution prohibiting ICE from entering schools without a warrant.
“These examples show that institutions can and should take a stand,” Palomares said, according to EFE.
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