While children walked to school this morning this morning, federal Border Patrol agents conducted another immigration raid outside of a Home Depot in Westlake near MacArthur Park that has been the target of multiple immigration operations this summer.
A Sprinter van full of Border Patrol agents wearing tactical gear arrived outside the Home Depot parking lot on Wilshire Boulevard just before 7 AM, according to Zoie Matthew, an organizer with the Koreatown Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU).
At the same time, Matthew said, dozens of federal agents began rounding up people near the Union Drive entrance to the Home Depot, in front of the CARECEN Day Labor Center.
Video footage shot by another LATU member shared with L.A. TACO shows agents handcuffing a man lying on the sidewalk on his stomach with his hands behind his back, and agents struggling to take another person to the ground.
In another video, agents are seen throwing tear gas canisters and firing pepper balls at activists who were documenting the raid.
Joshua Erazo, an organizer with CARECEN Day Labor Center who witnessed this morning's raid firsthand, told L.A. TACO that, at a minimum, they estimate 30 to 40 agents were involved in the operation.
Erazo described a chaotic scene with people running in opposite directions and hiding to try and find safety.
”It honestly seemed like a free-for-all,” Erazo said.
Erazo also noted that tear gas was used at a time when parents were taking their kids to school and innocent bystanders were on their way to work.
“So a lot of people were coughing,” he recalled. “A lot of people had red eyes, and [were] trying to get water to clean themselves.”
“People were just trying to get to safety, but it seems as if they were using more force than usual,” he said.
Ezaro estimated that around six to eight people were detained and taken away during the raid.
“We know that there were some day laborers taken, some workers, people just grabbing their lunch, trying to go to work, and also a street vendor as well,” Erazo said.
This is at least the fourth raid that federal police have conducted at or near the Westlake Home Depot this summer, according to Matthew. The entire operation lasted approximately five minutes.
Erazo said it appeared that the agents were randomly targeting people on Thursday morning, despite a federal order from a judge barring federal authorities from arresting people based solely on their skin color, accent, or their presence in a particular location like a bus stop, car wash, or Home Depot, as well as on the type of work a person does.
“I saw no warrants. I saw no announcements of warrants. And no, they weren't calling for anybody [specifically],” the organizer explained. “I mean, I even saw them try to grab someone, and when they got away, they kind of focused on the person right next to them.”
“Seems to me they're just kind of grabbing people, not too sure on what basis, whether it be their skin color, what they look like, or the fact that they're looking for work. But I didn't see anything that would signify that they're looking for specific people at all,” Erazo said.
After the MacArthur Park raid, organizers carrying walkie-talkies and loudspeakers were on high alert, four miles away at the Home Depot in Cypress Park.
“We’re all on edge,” an organizer keeping an eye on things there told L.A. TACO on Thursday morning. They said earlier in the morning, a truck drove into the parking lot, stopped, and then drove off, raising suspicions.
“They all drive like assholes,” the organizer said, referring to federal agents.
This morning’s MacArthur Park raid coincided with President Donald Trump’s border advisor telling reporters that federal authorities plan to increase immigration raids in so-called “sanctuary cities,” including Los Angeles. The day after, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bragged on social media about making 5,000 immigration arrests in Los Angeles this summer.
“You’re going to see a ramp up of operations in New York; you’re going to see a ramp up of operations continue in L.A., Portland, Seattle, all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE,” border advisor Tom Homan told reporters on Thursday.
With no end in sight, Erazo said that community members are doing their best to keep one another safe.
“We're grateful to have people who use their privilege and are volunteering to patrol the area,” Erazo told L.A. TACO. “We have a group, we call them Migra watch volunteers, who dedicate their time for free to patrol the corners.”
Those volunteers remind workers of their rights, document raids, and ask to see warrants when federal police conduct immigration operations.
“That’s the best way we’ve been able to kind of defend ourselves, [by] using different eyes patrolling the area. And as soon as there’s any sort of immigration or activity, they announce it to everybody, and everybody, by word of mouth, tries to get out of there," Erazo said.
L.A. TACO reached out to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for comment and will update this story if they release a statement.
