Almost 100 folks had only one merchandise on their record as they entered the Dwelling Depot in Monrovia on Saturday: a small ice scraper price rather less than a greenback.
They bought again in line solely minutes later to return the merchandise. The motion, often called a buy-in, was half of a bigger demonstration on the Dwelling Depot to stress the corporate to “scrape ICE out of their shops,” mentioned Erika Andiola, political director for the Nationwide Day Laborer Organizing Community, which coordinated the occasion.
Demonstrators flocked to the situation, some sporting makeshift aprons, much like these worn by Dwelling Depot staff, with the phrase “ICE out of Dwelling Depot.” Others used the orange Dwelling Depot buckets as drums as they marched by way of the shop.
“Whether or not the company desires to confess it or not, Dwelling Depot has grow to be floor zero for this merciless, vicious immigration enforcement that’s going down in our nation,” mentioned Pablo Alvarado, NDLON’s co-executive director.
George Lane, supervisor of company communications for Dwelling Depot, mentioned in an e mail to The Occasions that “we’re not coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol, and we’re not concerned within the operations. We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement actions are going to occur, and infrequently, we don’t know operations have taken place till they’re over.
“We’re required to comply with all federal and native guidelines and rules in each market the place we function.”
Dwelling Depot staff didn’t intrude with the protesters and ultimately closed off one of many retailer’s entrances. Organizers blocked off automobile entry to the entrance of the shop throughout a information convention that adopted the march.
S.J. Denning volunteers with East Pasadena Neighborhood Protection Nook, a gaggle that runs patrols for ICE exercise within the space, and hoped that Saturday’s demonstration would “create just a little mischief” and enhance consciousness.
“It’s not OK to kidnap our neighbors off the streets,” mentioned Denning. “This can be a ethical second, and we must always meet it with braveness, all of us.”
The efforts have been partly a response to the dying of Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez, an immigrant day laborer who was struck and killed by an SUV in Monrovia after operating onto the 210 Freeway whereas fleeing from immigration brokers in mid-August.
The Division of Homeland Safety beforehand instructed The Occasions that Montoya Valdez “was not being pursued by any DHS regulation enforcement.”
Montoya Valdez’s dying was “destabilizing for your entire neighborhood,” mentioned Michael Ocon, a board member for the Monrovia Unified Faculty District.
“This challenge impacts each single person who calls this area residence,” he mentioned.
The buy-in’s goal was to briefly stall the shop’s operation and present the monetary contribution that day laborers make to the corporate — with out staging a boycott, which Andiola mentioned the neighborhood doesn’t need.
“Day laborers do need folks to come back out to buy to allow them to get work,” Andiola mentioned. “This was the best way for us to nonetheless influence their enterprise and on the identical time, give the message that they should get ICE out of their shops.”
For many years, Dwelling Depot parking tons have functioned as workplaces for day laborers, lots of whom are immigrants and present up each morning looking for work. These identical tons have grow to be key targets for immigration enforcement.
Within the car parking zone and throughout the road, subsequent to the 210 freeway, NDLON members arrange two altars, every with 24 white crosses, representing individuals who have died this yr both throughout immigration raids or whereas detained, together with Montoya Valdez.
A couple of dozen clergy from Pasadena and Altadena attended the demonstration, together with Pastor Mayra Macedo-Nolan.
“Our neighborhood was already devastated by the Eaton hearth,” Macedo-Nolan mentioned. “The rebuild of our neighborhood won’t occur with out the labor of employees, and that is the place they arrive to search for work.”
