A Home Depot in Los Angeles installed three high pitch noise-emitting machines outside to deter day laborers from seeking work there, causing them to suffer headaches and nausea, advocates alleged at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), an advocacy organization that helps day laborers, called for the removal of these machines from Home Depot’s Cypress Park location, according to the Los Angeles Times
Advocates for day laborers also demanded that Home Depot speak out against ICE raids in store parking lots. Immigration enforcement agents have repeatedly targeted the Cypress Park location, which is located near one of IDEPSCA’s support hubs, the Times reported.
Maegan Ortiz, IDEPSCA’s executive director, reportedly alleged that Home Depot deployed these noise machines to drive day laborers from the parking lot.
“We have been here and remain open through global pandemics, providing services and creating community,” Ortiz stated at the press conference. “We’re not going to let sound machines, gates and intimidation get rid of us. Day laborers are here to stay. IDEPSCA is here to stay. The immigrant community is here to stay.”
One day laborer said he now wears earplugs to block the noise while he waits for work. The man said the sound “penetrates your bones”.
“They chose to weaponize sound,” Los Angeles city councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez said at the news conference, in remarks she shared on Instagram. “Devices like these are used as torture against our people.”
Hernandez also argued that the devices were placed on property owned by the California department of transportation property. “This is the people’s land,” she said. “This is Caltrans land that is owned by Californians who pay taxes. The people’s land is being used to torture the people.”
While the noise machines were off during the news conference, workers reportedly said that they were turned on approximately one hour later.
The noise machines are mounted on lamp posts in the parking lot that are right under a highway overpass. Home Depot set up these noise machines several days after the most recent ICE raid at its Cypress Park location, advocates claim.
The Cypress Park Home Depot has seen extensive ICE activity, with Ortiz reportedly saying that immigration agents have detained about 50 people there this year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents also detained a US citizen at that Home Depot whose child was in the car, and then drove off with the toddler, the Times reported.
Undocumented day laborers across the US have long convened at Home Depot locations to find work, but these stores have become an epicenter of aggressive enforcement under Donald Trump’s deportation-centered immigration policy.
Immigration officers have targeted Home Depot locations in Los Angeles suburbs. In January, federal agents rounded up migrants at a Home Depot in Kern county, California, per reports.
One raid at a Los Angeles Home Depot was among the immigration actions that spurred sprawling protests in LA this supper. Trump subsequently tried to clamp down on demonstrations by mobilizing national guard troops.
Home Depot did not immediately respond to The Guardian’s request for comment.
A Home Depot spokesperson told the Times that the company “has several initiatives we use to keep our stores safe, including human and technology resources.”
Another company spokesperson previously told the newspaper that Home Depot does not coordinate with immigration authorities, claiming “we’re not involved in the operations.”
This spokesperson said Home Depot was not apprised of immigration raids and often are not aware “until they’re over,” per the Times.
