The holiday season is here, and Cyntia Aviña wants shoppers to buy their Christmas tree and other decorations anywhere but at Home Depot. On Black Friday, she protested at the national retailer’s store in Torrance, urging people to spend their money elsewhere because of the ICE raids that have taken place for months in the store’s parking lots.
“Home Depot is complicit in the illegal kidnappings occurring in our communities, with over 700 people having been detained by ICE at Home Depot stores throughout California,” said Aviña, a member of Union del Barrio and the Community Self-Defense Coalition, two pro-immigrant organizations in Los Angeles. Aviña, an LA resident who has joined recent anti-ICE events in Van Nuys and other San Fernando Valley communities, suggested shoppers patronize other businesses instead.
“We recommend supporting smaller, neighborhood businesses that corporations do not own,” she said. “This way, you can also strengthen our local economy.”
The Black Friday rally was part of “Boycott Home Depot,” which involved a series of national protests organized by a loose coalition of over 50 grassroots labor, and civil rights organizations. The coalition includes Union del Barrio, the Community Self-Defense Coalition, Black Voters Matter, Until Freedom, Indivisible, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), Code Pink, the Harriet Tubman Center, the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, including its chapter in the San Fernando Valley.
These groups accuse the home improvement store chain of supporting immigration enforcement operations. The rally took place from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, a crucial shopping period that accounts for up to 12% of annual holiday retail sales. The dates were strategically selected to maximize visibility and economic impact during the height of consumer spending.
The national boycott of Home Depot is occurring at a critical time for the retail chain, which has seen a sales decline as American consumers have grown increasingly worried about inflation and housing affordability. Furthermore, various organizations are also distancing themselves from the major retailer in protest of its corporate practices regarding diversity, inclusion, and worker protection.
Is Home Depot Complicit?
Maegan Ortiz, executive director of IDEPSCA, claims that Home Depot has mistreated day laborers seeking work outside its Southern California stores for years. “They have continuously harassed day laborers, using extremely aggressive security tactics and even physically assaulting them and towing their cars,” she said. “They have threatened day laborers with regular arrests and, since Trump 1.0, threatened with calling ICE on them,” Ortiz added.
Recent ICE raids have also ensnarled legal residents and American citizens, according to Ortiz. “Border patrol and other agents pick up everyone,” she said. The raids have targeted not only undocumented workers but also legal residents and American citizens, according to Ortiz. “I had agents pointing automatic weapons at me,” she said. “They’re not asking questions. They’re just grabbing people, assaulting people and throwing them into vehicles and then figuring out things later. And we already know that they’ve taken citizens. We know that we’ve seen them in other locations, driving off with babies.”
The San Fernando Valley has experienced a significant crackdown by ICE on immigrants since July, with various Home Depot locations in North Hollywood, the City of San Fernando, Westlake and Van Nuys being targeted.
The Torrance Home Depot was chosen for the Black Friday protest for strategic reasons, according to Miriam Arghandiwal, a labor activist in LA and a member of the Boycott Home Depot Coalition. “ICE has not raided the Torrance store, and we heard that Home Depot corporate would be present that day,” she said.
Activists entered the store posing as regular shoppers, concealing protest signs under their clothing and filling their carts with merchandise. Meanwhile, another activist brought in a wireless speaker, which was placed on a shelf.
“The speaker began playing an automated message that said, ‘Attention Home Depot shoppers and employees, Home Depot is complicit with state-sponsored kidnappings,’” Arghandiwal explained. The message also mentioned that approximately 500 people have been detained at over 52 Home Depot stores across Southern California in the last few months.
“It’s been over 175 days,” the message continued, “and Home Depot has said nothing. Please boycott Home Depot and tell them to stop being complicit in these ICE raids.”
Arghandiwal noted that the message was played in both English and Spanish about three times while the protesters unzipped their jackets and held up their signs, many of which displayed the number of immigrants detained at each Home Depot location.
Home Depot stated that it does not cooperate with or receive prior notice of ICE raids and only learns of them afterward, and that it instructs employees not to engage in these activities for safety reasons and to report any incidents immediately.
In a statement widely and repeatedly circulated to the media, the company said, “We ask associates to report any suspected immigration enforcement operations immediately and not to engage for their own safety,” the statement reads, in part. “We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and we aren’t involved in them. In many cases, we don’t know that arrests have taken place until after they’re over. We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.”
Ortiz disagrees, saying, “Home Depot has consistently claimed private property rights when harassing day laborers, but suddenly those private property rights disappear when it comes to ICE,” said Ortiz. “So that’s one area that we call BS.”
Ortiz went on to say that the company has refused to answer questions about the increase in surveillance cameras on its premises, including car license plate readers, and where the information goes. “And they claim that they have no idea how many raids have happened at their locations?” she said.
The Home Depot Coalition demands that Home Depot denounce raids, prevent ICE entry, uphold agreements for day labor safe spaces, and provide remuneration to families impacted by the immigration raids.
It’s too early to evaluate the financial impact of the Black Friday boycott on Home Depot, but analysts expect substantial revenue losses if many consumers participate. Moreover, boycott participants in the valley and elsewhere are determined to persist in their campaign until their demands are met.
“The valley has been hit particularly hard at the Home Depots,” said Aviña. “So we for sure are mobilizing in this region because the ICE raids are impacting a significant portion of our population.”
Aviña did not rule out a local Boycott Home Depot protest in the valley in the near future. “We don’t have any laid out specific plans yet, but I know for sure we’re going to be targeting all of the Home Depots in Southern California,” she said. “The valley is definitely an area where we intend to stay focused on. We have a lot of folks adopting Home Depots in the valley and other parts of Southern California.”
I go to 2 different Home Depots and I haven’t seen a fall in people shopping there or have I seen any protests, so I took a drive to some other cities and same thing, business at H.D. was still buzzing along, No protests. Looks like the Immigration Coalitions are trying to stir up trouble for something that most Americans voted for, Get the Illegals Out.
I wonder if the organizers of the HD boycott have thought this through. If shoppers, especially contractors avoid HD, what does that mean for the work prospects of day laborers waiting outside? I understand the anger and I don’t agree with what’s going on in the U.S in this specific aspect (targeting working people that have been contributing to the U.S. economy for years) but I don’t blame HD for not wanting to raise the ire of a petulant, capricious wannabe despot, either. Showing HD support at this time (and making them aware of where it’s coming from) may be a better means of influencing their behavior, although, I don’t really think they’re free to ignore the company’s needs, anyway.
Boycott Home Depot Coalition supports contractors continuing to shop where they need to shop, in part because they support and need day laborers. Two things are worth noting: 1) The Home Depot owner invested hundreds of millions in our First Felon’s campaign festivities; 2) Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air because of a nationwide flash boycott of his employer’s brand.
Understanding that positive support has its place, history (I’m thinking back to the 1960s grape boycott now) tells us that, when compliments fail, pressure works. More pressure works better.