Carlos wasn’t surprised when immigration agents cornered him at a Home Depot in Los Angeles last summer.
His luck had finally run out, he thought.
The 68-year-old, originally from Guatemala, had spent nearly every morning for more than 30 years looking for work in Home Depot parking lots. He’d evaded immigration agents at least three times before he was detained in late June.
“I knew that sooner or later, it would happen to me,” Carlos said. “I’d be out there seven days a week. I had to go out and look for work. I had no choice. How else would I pay my rent?”
He spent four and half months in ICE detention before he was released in November, with the help of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which provided financial and legal support to his case.
Carlos joined around 80 other day laborers on Saturday at a convention held by NDLON in Pasadena, the first time the community came together in person since the raids began last year.
An in-person event of this scale was difficult to organize but necessary to NDLON’s activism, said Pablo Alvarado, the organization’s co-executive director.
“There’s power when people come together,” Alvarado said. “When workers feel isolated, they don’t build community. The first step of of fighting back is getting to know each other, getting to talk to each other.”
Similar regional conventions are being planned across the country, he said.
The impact of immigration enforcement varied among the assembled day laborers. Some had been in detention for months late last year. One man was released from Adelanto ICE Processing Center just days ago. But all of them have daily feared the same fate since aggressive immigration raids swept Los Angeles and other cities across the country.
Day laborers and activists came from across Southern California, including San Diego and the Antelope Valley, to discuss the effects of ICE raids on their lives. Volunteers who provide support and rapid response to workers before and after immigration raids were also in attendance.
A main topic of discussion was a possible boycott against Home Depot, which activists say has not done enough to stop the raids.
Home Depot parking lots have been informal job sites for day laborers for decades, many of whom are immigrants and show up every morning seeking work. These same lots have become key targets for immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
The day-long convention was over a month in the making, and it was difficult to get day laborers comfortable with congregating in person, Alvarado said.
“Sacrificing a day to come and have a conversation is not easy for workers,” Alvardo said. “There’s obviously a sense of fear in mobilizing from one place to another.”
Day laborers were greeted with a musical performance from Los Jornaleros del Norte, a six-person band composed of Alvarado and other NDLON organizers.
Lawyers offered free legal consultations to immigrants throughout the convention and the organization provided a food pantry at the end of the event.
Day laborers crowded around notepads during the discussions, encouraged to openly debate on what they need to ensure their own safety while seeking work. Some were quiet at first and struggled to put their experiences into words.
Eventually many took turns sharing what they’d witnessed — friends and acquaintances getting detained and immigration agents swarming parking lots, sometimes dozens at a time. The past year has been a horror, many agreed.
Most day laborers declined to have their names included in The Times for fear of retaliation.
“People are talking about the future of day laborers, the future of immigrants, and immigrants are not in the discussion,” Alvarado said. “You have to ask the laborers what is it that they think, what they want, and I don’t think that that has happened.”
Much of the day was spent debating a potential boycott of Home Depot. Chris Newman, NDLON‘s legal director and general counsel, gave a presentation on what a Home Depot boycott could mean for workers.
The company has been silent on the raids taking place in their parking lots, and should be doing more to protect day laborers, NDLON organizers said.
A Home Deport spokesperson told The Times the company does not coordinate with ICE or Border Patrol.
“We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen and we aren’t involved in the operations,” the spokesperson said. “We cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies, including preventing them from coming into our stores and parking lots.”
NDLON has maintained a neutral stance on boycotting the company and hoped Saturday’s event would help illuminate the organization’s next steps, Alvarado said. A boycott could harm day laborers who rely on customers to hire them for manual labor jobs.
Day laborers were largely split on a potential boycott. One question rang across the crowd: “If no one goes to shop, how will we find work?”
“But if we do nothing, how will we be heard?” another day laborer asked during the group discussion.
Jesus, a Mexican native living in Pasadena, has been heavily involved in NDLON activism since he was released from ICE detention in January.
He was detained while working at a car wash in August, and the advocacy organization was crucial to his release. NDLON provided him legal representation and paid for his bail, which let him return home to his four young children.
Since then, Jesus connected NDLON with other men he was detained with, some of who have since been released. He still speaks regularly with a few friends who are still in detention.
“Even if we don’t know each other, you become family,” Jesus said. “We’re all comrades in this. I feel so good to be here and help however I can. Many of us don’t have that luxury.”
