Anti-ICE Protesters Shut Down Westlake Home Depot Over Immigration Raids

Anti-ICE activists took direct action Friday afternoon by entering a Home Depot store in Westlake and staging a protest that temporarily brought business to a halt. Holding bright yellow signs declaring "ICE out of The Home Depot," the demonstrators seized checkout lanes and blocked entrances to spotlight what they say is the company’s complicity in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.

The protest erupted amid growing anger over federal immigration raids in the Los Angeles area, which have disproportionately targeted day laborers—many of whom seek work through Home Depot parking lots. Organizers are demanding that Home Depot take "proactive steps" to shield these vulnerable workers from arrests and deportations.

Home Depot swiftly pushed back against the accusations. In a statement, the company said it is not notified about immigration enforcement actions on its premises and denies any coordination with ICE or Border Patrol. "We cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies, including preventing them from coming into our stores and parking lots," the statement said.

However, federal agents have repeatedly targeted Home Depot locations in Los Angeles since the Trump administration escalated immigration crackdowns last summer. Activists argue that even if Home Depot does not directly collaborate with ICE, the company’s failure to protect workers or push back against raids makes it complicit in the administration’s harsh enforcement tactics.

The protest ended after Los Angeles police arrived on the scene, with demonstrators moving their chants outside the store. This action is part of a broader grassroots resistance against ICE’s aggressive immigration policies and their impact on immigrant communities in Southern California.

This episode underscores how corporate spaces like Home Depot have become frontline battlegrounds in the fight over immigration enforcement. As ICE continues its raids, activists are ramping up pressure on corporations to take responsibility for the human cost of these operations—and to stop enabling authoritarian overreach by federal agencies.