Style on Main: Home Depot Implements Employee Response Plan Amid Frequent ICE Raids

Home Depot, a retailing giant with over 2,300 stores, has been inadvertently pulled into the rising ICE raids on illegal immigrants. Its parking lots, where day laborers used to gather to seek employment unofficially, are now hot spots for immigration enforcement under President Trump’s increased campaign. 

This combination of street-level labor and federal regulations creates a potent concoction that forces Home Depot into a difficult social and financial impasse.

The conflict between abiding by the law and safeguarding its employees to prevent censure by the larger community illustrates the company’s choice to implement an employee assistance policy while permitting round-ups.

Parking lots at Home Depots have long served as informal labor markets, where contractors and day laborers mix without resumes or contracts.

This subterranean economy supports approximately one million workers at the lower end of the pay scale, many of whom are illegal immigrants engaged in difficult-to-document home repair and construction work.The raids disrupt this fragile equilibrium, causing labor shortages and economic ripple effects.

Home Depot’s identification of these territories as de facto enforcement areas demonstrates workplace culture at the ground level that is at odds with federal immigration policy, which has accelerated the need to reconsider worker policy and community outreach programs. 

Home Depot has since released new guidelines that mandate workers to report ICE encounters directly upon occurrence and to keep their distance from agents for personal safety. Some local bosses permit workers traumatized by the raids to leave with compensation, though this is an in-border initiative, not company policy.

This effort shows an effective tactic: protecting workers from trauma and legal risk while maintaining business operations. It also shows a new corporate mandate, acknowledging the human toll of immigration enforcement without necessarily hindering federal efforts. It is a delicate tightrope walk in today’s polarized culture.

Newsweek: ICE responds after beloved bagel house boss’ arrest sparks protests

A manager of a New York bagel house was detained by federal immigration agents earlier this month, sparking outrage across the community.

Fernando Mejia, 41, who runs Port Washington’s Schmear Bagel & Cafe, was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside the business on June 12, the Long Island Press reported.

When contacted for comment by Newsweek, a spokesperson for ICE said: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement encountered Fernando Alberto Mejia-Flores, a Salvadorian national, during a daily routine law enforcement action in the vicinity of Port Washington, New York, June 12. Mejia-Flores was identified as a fugitive alien with a Final Order of Removal. ICE arrested him and transported him to an ICE processing facility in Central Islip, New York.”

The American Immigration Council estimates that the president’s mass deportation policy could slap a one-time cost of $315 billion on the country.

“Fernando was also recently hospitalized for medical issues, which make his sudden detention all the more dangerous to his well-being,” a post on GoFundMe reads. “His sudden detention has also left his family, including his 14-year-old daughter, emotionally devastated and facing immediate legal battles.”

https://www.newsweek.com/fernando-mejia-bagel-house-ice-immigration-2089381

USA Today: LA isn’t burning. ICE has terrorized many into an ominous silence. | Opinion

The threat of ICE raids on commencement ceremonies was credible enough that our Los Angeles school district devised plans to protect students from being kidnapped as they received their diplomas.

Apparently, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump, “California is burning.” Here in Los Angeles, however, we know too well the smell of a serious conflagration ‒ and also the stench of political gas when politicians try to justify corrupt assertions of authoritarian power.

We are protesting now not because we are lawless, but because what is happening is a racially selective application of immigration laws that should have been reformed years ago. We are protesting because we still believe in decency, human dignity and respect for hard work and family.

Some protesting among us have succumbed to anger, while others have opportunistically caused mayhem the way some revelers do when the Lakers or the Dodgers win a championship.

Meanwhile the president and his ministers of cruelty, hysteria and lies are opportunistically causing far more mayhem, disrupting businesses and communities and devastating families and insulting our brave troops by gratuitously deploying them to our streets, pitting them against American civilians, trying to use the selfless members of our military as an authoritarian flex.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2025/06/23/ice-raids-california-los-angeles-immigration/84174179007

LA Times: Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens

Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb Thursday when armed, masked men — wearing vests with “Border Patrol” on them — pushed him up against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born.

“I’m American, bro!” 29-year-old Gavidia pleaded, in video taken by a friend.

“What hospital were you born?” the agent barked.

“I don’t know, dawg!” he said. “East L.A., bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.”

His friend, whom Gavidia did not name, narrated the video: “These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!” The friend said Gavidia was being questioned “just because of the way he looks.”

In a statement Saturday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said U.S. citizens were arrested “because they ASSAULTED U.S. Border Patrol Agents.” (McLaughlin’s statement emphasized the word “assaulted” in all-capital and boldfaced letters.)

When told by a reporter that Gavidia had not been arrested, McLaughlin clarified that Gavidia had been questioned by Border Patrol agents but there “is no arrest record.” She said a friend of Gavidia’s was arrested for assault of an officer.

As immigration operations have unfolded across Southern California in the last week, lawyers and advocates say people are being targeted because of their skin color. The encounter with Gavidia and others they are tracking have raised legal questions about enforcement efforts that have swept up hundreds of immigrants and shot fear into the deeply intertwined communities they call home.

Agents picking up street vendors without warrants. American citizens being grilled. Home Depot lots swept. Car washes raided. The wide-scale arrests and detainments — often in the region’s largely Latino neighborhoods — contain hallmarks of racial profiling and other due process violations.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-15/latinos-targeted-in-raids-u-s-citizens-detained-indiscriminate-sweeps-home-depot-lots-targeted

LA Times: Immigrant father of three Marines is violently detained, injured by federal agents, son says

Video of a landscaper being taken down, pinned and repeatedly punched by masked federal agents in Orange County has gone viral online, and Alejandro Barranco finds it painful to watch.

The Marine veteran says his father, Narciso Barranco, was working outside of a Santa Ana IHOP on Saturday when several masked men approached him. Frightened, he began to run away, his son said. Moments later, he was on the ground, held down by the men, who struck him.

The younger Barranco told The Times on Sunday that his father was pepper sprayed and beaten, and that his shoulder was dislocated. After speaking with him Sunday at about 6 p.m., Barranco said his father had not received medical treatment, food or water after more than 24 hours in a detention facility in Los Angeles.

“I don’t think it was just, I don’t think it was fair,” Barranco said of the use of force against his father. “I don’t think they need four 200 [pounds]-plus guys to hold down a 5-6 or 5-7, 150-pound guy.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-22/father-of-3-marines-violently-detained-federal-agents

Gazette: ‘I feel betrayed,’ U.S. Marine says of seeing his father punched by federal immigration agent

A former Marine says he feels “betrayed” by the U.S. after seeing a video on social media of his father being pinned to the ground and repeatedly punched by a federal immigration agent in Santa Ana on Saturday.

The post of the blows to his father also helped to spark a demonstration with dozens of protesters demanding the agents leave Santa Ana, as well as an online fundraiser to raise money for the man’s legal expenses.

https://www.gazettextra.com/news/nation_world/i-feel-betrayed-u-s-marine-says-of-seeing-his-father-punched-by-federal-immigration/article_c9e9aee3-0eb1-51d3-9834-3b7a2ecfceae.html

Mediaite: Critics Ramp Up Scrutiny Of 22-Year-Old ‘Former Lawn Boy’ Trump Put in Charge of Terrorism Prevention Unit — Amid Iran Threats

Amid the threats of retribution from Iran following the U.S. military strike on three Iranian nuclear sites, critics have ramped up their scrutiny of the 22-year-old who was assigned to a major terrorism-prevention post by President Donald Trump.

In a Sunday morning post to X, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called out Trump for appointing 22-year-old Thomas Fugate to a role at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in which he oversees the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) — a division of the agency which is tasked with terrorism prevention.

“As our nation girds for possible Iranian terrorist attacks, this is the person Trump put in charge of terrorism prevention,” Murphy wrote — referring to Fugate. “22 years old. Recent work experience: landscaping/grocery clerk. Never worked a day in counter-terrorism. But he’s a BIG Trump fan. So he got the job.”

Times of Israel: Iranian state media claims targeted nuclear sites and their uranium stockpiles were previously evacuated

Iranian state media confirms that the Islamic Republic’s Isfahan, Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites were attacked by “enemy strikes.”

The IRIB state broadcaster claims the sites along with their enriched uranium stockpiles were evacuated beforehand.

In other words, our wannabe dictator’s bombings accomplished nothing except to drag us into a war that would best be avoided.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iranian-state-media-claims-targeted-nuclear-sites-and-their-uranium-stockpiles-were-previously-evacuated

Raw Story: ‘Huge news’: Judge denies Trump’s motion to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in custody

Donald Trump’s administration lost its bid to keep a wrongly deported Maryland man, Kilmar Ábrego García, in custody.

García, who was purportedly sent to El Salvador in error, was recently returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges.

According to legal expert Anna Bower on Sunday, “A federal magistrate judge DENIES the government’s motion to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in custody while his criminal charges are pending.”

“A separate order will enter, following hearing, directing Abrego’s release on conditions,” she wrote, quoting the order dated Sunday.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-huge-news-abrego-custody

Sun Herald: Trump’s ‘Trash Heap’ Remark Sparks Backlash

President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles during immigration protests, labeling the city a “trash heap.” He claimed the military is needed to prevent violence. Critics have voiced concern over projected deployment costs of approximately $134 million.

Critics, like Tad Weber of The Fresno Bee, criticized Trump’s characterization of the city. Reflecting on a visit, Weber writes, “Far from a ‘trash heap,’ Los Angeles was as vibrant and busy as ever.” Weber added, “By characterizing Los Angeles as a “trash heap,” Trump violated Rule No. 1 for the president: Be America’s cheerleader. The president should extol, not denigrate, our nation’s cities.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-trash-heap-remark-sparks-backlash/ss-AA1HcXve