A group of immigrant agents Monday tried to detain undocumented day laborers at a Home Depot store parking lot in the Inland Empire until community members intervened, according to witnesses and a nonprofit.
Day laborers and community members in Upland said about 20 federal agents showed up to the Home Depot on Mountain Avenue in Upland early Monday.
“I arrived at 5:30 in the morning. There were about 20 officers here. They organized themselves, and they went to organize further elsewhere,” a day laborer who declined to be identified said in Spanish. “(The agents) have already been here twice already.”
Other witnesses also said another immigration operation took place at the same location Sunday.
Alexis Teodoro from the Pomona Day Labor Center confirmed immigrant officers approached a group of day laborers looking for work in the parking lot but said no one was detained from the Monday morning operation
“A couple of unmarked vehicles were here trying to take day laborers,” described Teodoro, adding that some day laborers, who are U.S. citizens, distracted the ICE agents, giving undocumented friends time to escape detainment.
“(The U.S. citizens) were there and asked, ‘Hey, hire me for work.’ That allowed some guys to get away,” Teodoro said.
Tina Silva, another U.S. citizen, jumped in and asked federal agents to leave the Home Depot parking.
“I told them bye-bye,” said Silver. “I told them on the megaphone to get out – anything I can do to intimidate them and get them out of our community.”
Another day laborer, who wished to hide his identity for safety reasons, said he was approached by one of the agents Monday morning.
“Immigration stopped me over there by the little tree at the Home Depot and asked me, ‘Good morning. ID, please,’” he described in Spanish. “I showed him my license, and he asked if I had any other identification. I took out my green card, and he said, ‘Have a good day, sir.’”
Teodoro was relieved no one was taken from the Monday morning raid on Mountain Avenue, but he suspected that Home Depot was calling authorities to remove day laborers from the parking lot.
“Please, Home Depot,” Teodoro said. “We don’t want you to call the police. They are just looking for work”
Teodoro also asked community members to film any raids or immigration operations as long as they are not interfering with the investigation.
