Advocates call for removal of machines and demand that company speak out against ICE raids in parking lots<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Home Depot in Los Angeles<\/a> installed three high-pitch noise-emitting machines outside to deter day laborers from seeking work there, causing them to suffer headaches and nausea, advocates alleged at a press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (Idepsca<\/a>), an advocacy organization that helps day laborers, called for the removal of these machines from Home Depot\u2019s Cypress Park location, according to the Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocates for day laborers also demanded that Home Depot speak out against ICE raids in store parking lots. Immigration enforcement agents have repeatedly targeted the Cypress Park location, which is located near one of Idepsca\u2019s support hubs, the Times reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maegan Ortiz, Idepsca\u2019s executive director, alleged that Home Depot deployed these noise machines to drive day laborers from the parking lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have been here and remain open through global pandemics, providing services and creating community,\u201d Ortiz said at the press conference. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let sound machines, gates and intimidation get rid of us. Day laborers are here to stay. IDEPSCA is here to stay. The immigrant community is here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One day laborer said he now wears earplugs to block the noise while he waits for work. The man said the sound \u201cpenetrates your bones\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey chose to weaponize sound,\u201d Los Angeles city councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez said at the news conference, in remarks she shared<\/a> on Instagram. \u201cDevices like these are used as torture against our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hernandez also argued that the devices were placed on property owned by the California<\/a> department of transportation property. \u201cThis is the people\u2019s land,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is Caltrans land that is owned by Californians who pay taxes. The people\u2019s land is being used to torture the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the noise machines were off during the news conference, workers reportedly said that they were turned on approximately one hour later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The noise machines are mounted on lampposts<\/a> in the parking lot under a highway overpass. Home Depot set up these noise machines several days after the most recent ICE raid at its Cypress Park location, advocates claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cypress Park Home Depot has seen extensive ICE activity, with Ortiz reportedly saying that immigration agents have detained about 50 people there this year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents also detained a US citizen at that Home Depot whose child was in the car, and then drove off with the toddler, the Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n