Nearly one hundred people had just one item on their list as they entered the Home Depot in Monrovia on Saturday: a small ice scraper worth a little less than a dollar.<\/p>\n
They got back in line only minutes later to return the item. The action, known as a buy-in, was part of a larger demonstration at the Home Depot to pressure the company to \u201cscrape ICE out of their stores,\u201d said Erika Andiola, political director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which coordinated the event.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators flocked to the location, some wearing makeshift aprons, similar to those worn by Home Depot employees, with the phrase \u201cICE out of Home Depot.\u201d Others used the orange Home Depot buckets as drums as they marched through the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether the corporation wants to admit it or not, Home Depot has become ground zero for this cruel, vicious immigration enforcement that\u2019s taking place in our country,\u201d said Pablo Alvarado, NDLON\u2019s co-executive director.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Crosses and photos of people who died as a result of ICE raids this year are posted at a protest event hosted by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network on Saturday in Monrovia.<\/p>\n
(Jonathan Alcorn \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
George Lane, manager of corporate communications for Home Depot, said in an email to The Times that \u201cwe are not coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol, and we\u2019re not involved in the operations. We aren\u2019t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and often, we don\u2019t know operations have taken place until they\u2019re over. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home Depot employees did not interfere with the protesters and eventually closed off one of the store\u2019s entrances. Organizers blocked off vehicle access to the front of the store during a news conference that followed the march. <\/p>\n
S.J. Denning volunteers with East Pasadena Community Defense Corner, a group that runs patrols for ICE activity in the area, and hoped that Saturday\u2019s demonstration would \u201ccreate a little mischief\u201d and increase awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not OK to kidnap our neighbors off the streets,\u201d said Denning. \u201cThis is a moral moment, and we should meet it with courage, all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The efforts were in part a response to the death of Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez<\/a>, an immigrant day laborer who was struck and killed by an SUV in Monrovia after running onto the 210 Freeway while fleeing from immigration agents in mid-August.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security previously told The Times that Montoya Valdez \u201cwas not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n Montoya Valdez\u2019s death was \u201cdestabilizing for the entire community,\u201d said Michael Ocon, a board member for the Monrovia Unified School District.<\/p>\n \u201cThis issue impacts every single person that calls this region home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The buy-in\u2019s objective was to temporarily stall the store\u2019s operation and show the financial contribution that day laborers make to the company \u2014 without staging a boycott, which Andiola said the community does not want.<\/p>\n \u201cDay laborers do want people to come out to shop so they can get work,\u201d Andiola said. \u201cThis was the way for us to still impact their business and at the same time, give the message that they need to get ICE out of their stores.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheri (right, gave first name only) attends a protest event hosted by The National Day Labor Organizing Network at Home Depot on November 22 in Monrovia, California. The protest is an attempt to pressure Home Depot to condemn the ICE raids happening outside of their stores and prohibit ICE from carrying out raids there, among others. <\/p>\n (Jonathan Alcorn \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n For decades, Home Depot parking lots have functioned as workplaces for day laborers, many of whom are immigrants and show up every morning<\/a> seeking work. These same lots have become key targets<\/a> for immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n In the parking lot and across the street, next to the 210 freeway, NDLON members set up two altars, each with 24 white crosses, representing people who have died this year either during immigration raids or while detained, including Montoya Valdez. <\/p>\n About a dozen clergy from Pasadena and Altadena attended the demonstration, including Pastor Mayra Macedo-Nolan.<\/p>\n \u201cOur community was already devastated by the Eaton fire,\u201d Macedo-Nolan said. \u201cThe rebuild of our community will not happen without the labor of workers, and this is where they come to look for work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly one hundred people had just one item on their list as they entered the Home Depot in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":398321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,188705,188704,188706,188708,2321,5410,2961,188707,224,5337,188710,6524,3546,4700,637,188709,25235,8066],"class_list":{"0":"post-398320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-carlos-roberto-montoya-valdez","11":"tag-day-laborer-organizer","12":"tag-entire-community","13":"tag-erika-andiola","14":"tag-home-depot","15":"tag-ice","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-large-demonstration","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-ndlon","21":"tag-operation","22":"tag-people","23":"tag-store","24":"tag-times","25":"tag-vicious-immigration-enforcement","26":"tag-volunteer","27":"tag-work"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115596960891034679","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n