A group of activists in Los Angeles staged an unconventional protest inside a Home Depot store in Monrovia over the weekend, aiming to disrupt operations and demand that the hardware chain prevent ICE agents from conducting immigration raids on its premises.

The demonstration blended symbolic resistance with civil disobedience, drawing the attention of customers and store employees alike. 

The protest involved purchasing dozens of ice scrapers—priced at just 17 cents—and immediately lining up at the returns counter to give them back.

By overwhelming the customer service system, organizers hoped to pressure Home Depot into publicly disavowing the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in its stores and parking lots, where many migrants are detained. 

“Our goal is to get ICE out of our communities,” said Palmira Figueroa, communications director for the National Day Laborer Network, in an interview with CBS. “It’s symbolic: using an ice scraper to briefly shut down their system while people stand together to defend human rights.” 

Day laborer organizers in California are lining up at Home Depot to buy a single 17-cent scraper, return it, and repeat the process in an effort to slow sales and protest the store’s cooperation with ICE operations. pic.twitter.com/J21mx5EgZm

— Molly Ploofkins (@Mollyploofkins) November 24, 2025

The coordinated buy-and-return effort lasted about an hour and effectively disrupted normal store operations. Protesters also marched through the aisles, chanting and denouncing immigration crackdowns. In response, store management decided to temporarily close the Monrovia location. 

Corporate responsibility?

Figueroa noted the speed with which the store closed, contrasting it with previous incidents in which Home Depot remained open despite ICE agents carrying out arrests in the parking lot. “They can close the store for this, but not when ICE shows up and abuses workers?” she said. 

Home Depot has not commented on the incident. The chain has previously stated that it does not cooperate with federal agents and does not receive advance notice of immigration operations.

Nonetheless, since June—following directives from the Trump administration—Home Depot parking lots in the Los Angeles area have become frequent locations for raids targeting day laborers, many of whom are undocumented. 

These operations often involve masked and unidentified federal agents, a practice widely criticized by migrant advocacy groups. Activists argue that Home Depot must publicly condemn the raids and refuse to allow its stores to be used as staging grounds for intimidation and detentions. 

Organizers said they may hold additional protests at other Home Depot locations across Southern California if immigration raids continue. For them, the action represents a defense of vulnerable workers who, they argue, are repeatedly targeted and left unprotected by federal authorities.