#BorderPatrol agents jump out of rental truck and ambush people at LA #HomeDepot
In ‘Operation Trojan Horse’, masked officers in unmarked vehicle arrest 16 people, despite court order halting raids
Sam Levin in #LosAngeles
Wed 6 Aug 2025
"US border patrol agents carried out a raid outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles on Wednesday, with officers jumping out of an unmarked rental truck and chasing and arresting more than a dozen people.
"Videos of the operation, and federal officials’ statements boasting about the detentions, have raised questions about whether the US government was complying with a federal court order halting indiscriminate raids in the region due to evidence of racial profiling. That ruling, upheld last week by an appeals court, followed reports of #Latino #USCitizens getting swept up in #LARaids and accounts of undocumented people being targeted based on their appearance and whether they spoke Spanish.
"Clips of the early morning raid by Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood, near #MacArthurPark, showed masked, heavily armed officers jumping out of a yellow truck from Penske, a private rental company, and people fleeing. Day laborers often gather outside Home Depot stores looking for work and have been subject to aggressive immigration raids in southern California.
"One day-laborer present for the Wednesday raid told the Los Angeles Times that the Penske truck pulled up to the parking lot around 6.45am, with the driver telling people gathered in Spanish that he had work to offer. Someone then rolled up the back of the truck, and masked agents, including one in a cowboy hat, jumped out as people scattered, the witness said.
"The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an email that agents arrested 16 undocumented people from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua. Border patrol and DHS spokespeople did not respond to inquiries about the arrest tactics and whether agents had been targeting specific people.
"A spokesperson for Penske said in an email that it was aware of the videos, writing: 'Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances. The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this.' The company would reach out to #DHS to 'reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future, the statement said.
" 'It is deeply disturbing that the federal government will stoop to these levels to continue their #CampaignOfTerror against working #Angelenos,' said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (#Chirla), a California-based group that is part of the lawsuit challenging the raids. 'These are Angelenos looking for an honest day’s living … What we see in the video looks like an assault on people’s liberties, an assault on individuals that were standing there looking for a job, and a targeted operation that was in fact lawless.'
"One witness, who is a member of the #LATenantsUnion, a grassroots advocacy group, said they were setting up a '#KnowYourRights' #CommunityDefense table when the raid began. They took video, shared with the Guardian, of a group of officers piling back into the Penske truck after making arrests.
They said they saw the officers detain #StreetVendors and #DayLaborers. 'These are people who need to make money to pay rent, who have no choice. It was really tragic that the officers came out in full force just flaunting their power and bringing another level of chaos,' said the witness, who asked to remain anonymous, fearing retribution."
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/06/ice-border-patrol-home-depot-los-angeles
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/otbiw
#USPol #BoycottPenske #ICERaids #ICEKidnapping #ICESucks #ResistICE
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