Anti-ICE activists staged an unusual protest at a Home Depot in Monrovia, California, on Saturday, attempting to disrupt operations by purchasing dozens of low-cost ice scrapers and immediately returning them at the registers. The coordinated action, described as a “buy-in,” involved nearly a hundred demonstrators and temporarily clogged checkout lines.
Participants carried signs modeled after Home Depot’s orange-and-white branding, with messages such as “ICE Out of The Home Depot,” “No Secret Police,” and “No to ICE.” The protest was sparked by allegations that the retailer has allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to conduct raids in its parking lots—spaces that have long served as gathering points for day laborers, including many undocumented workers.
Home Depot strongly rejected the claims. “We are not coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol, and we’re not involved in the operations. We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and often, we don’t know operations have taken place until they’re over,” George Lane, the company’s corporate communications manager, told the Los Angeles Times.
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 controversy intensified after a widely discussed incident in August, when Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez died on the 210 Freeway while fleeing immigration officers. Some commenters on Reddit tied that incident to alleged enforcement activity at the Monrovia store, though the Department of Homeland Security has previously stated that its agents were not pursuing Valdez at the time.
During Saturday’s demonstration, activists also created altars featuring 24 white crosses to honor individuals who have died this year in connection with immigration raids or while in federal custody, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The event was organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Its political director, Erika Andiola, said the goal was to symbolically “scrape ICE out of their stores.” ICE operations at Home Depot locations across Los Angeles have drawn growing criticism in recent months.
Local officials have joined in the condemnation. “Take your orange aprons somewhere else. Home Depot has no place in Eagle Rock,” Councilmember Ysabel Jurado posted on Instagram in August, accusing ICE of repeatedly targeting Home Depot lots without warrants and violating the rights of workers.
Lowe’s has also faced scrutiny for using Flock license-plate-reading technology that shares data with law enforcement—systems civil-liberties groups, including the ACLU, warn could potentially be accessed by ICE.