Early Saturday morning, ICE agents descended on the Home Depot parking lot at 43rd Avenue in west Phoenix, detaining several workers who were waiting for jobs. Cell phone video from the scene showed men sitting beside the road surrounded by agents, with several people visible in handcuffs.
According to AZ Family, activists say agents detained 10 people at the store during the operation. Erika Andiola, political director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, told the station that some of the workers had simply come to the store to shop and were arrested by ICE as they exited. Andiola said people should be able to visit the store without fear of being detained, and added that Home Depot has the power to ensure customers feel safe entering its locations.
A Familiar Pattern for Phoenix Activists
Activists say the tactics used in this operation are not new, and that enforcement actions at Home Depot locations across the region have become routine. Court testimony reported by the Arizona Republic in July revealed that ICE Mobile Criminal Apprehension Teams routinely conduct undercover operations at the same 43rd Avenue Home Depot, using unmarked SUVs to scan license plates on vehicles with temporary tags or roof racks, cross-referencing owners against federal databases. Greg Fay, vice chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Arizona chapter, has warned that this growing reliance on plate scanning and parking-lot stops creates legal gray areas over whether the tactic violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.
Workers at the scene reportedly appeared dressed as day laborers and, in some cases, as unhoused people, though it’s unclear from available reporting how that detail factored into the operation. ICE has not publicly released details about Saturday’s operation. Protesters and day laborers returned to the Home Depot on Monday, continuing a pattern of community response that has followed similar raids at Phoenix-area stores.
Community Monitoring Network Watches for Patterns
The Phoenix-based People First Project tracks immigration enforcement across the region through a volunteer network called Eyes on ICE. Clarissa Vela, who leads the group, has said that many of the people monitoring these operations are women with detained loved ones, friends, or family members. Arizonans tracking immigration agents say they hope their efforts will eventually lead to more accountability from both federal agencies and the retailers whose lots have become enforcement sites…