About 20 day laborers were detained outside a Home Depot in North Hollywood on Monday, video captured by witnesses showed.
Federal agents arrived in the parking lot of the store around 9:30 a.m. on Monday and placed several people in their custody. On footage taken by witnesses on their cellphones, agents are seen guiding at least one person through the store’s parking lot, then taking them into an unmarked vehicle.
In response to the raid, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) held a vigil outside the Home Depot for those detained. Organizers and community members denounced the operation – the latest in a string of raids directed by the Trump administration.
Monday’s operation comes as the legality of agents’ practices comes into question. Immigrant advocates have questioned agents’ failure to show warrants during raids on several occasions, their lack of transparency as to why certain businesses are targeted and some agents’ practice of concealing their identities during operations.
Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem slammed questions and accusations that suspected the Trump administration of racially profiling individuals during these operations.
“That has been another false narrative that has been put out there in the media that I absolutely want to throw back at you and say that is absolutely false,” she said at the time. “And don’t you dare ever say that again. We have judges out there and other individuals saying people have been targeted that way, and it’s not true.”
Source: NBC Los Angeles