Overview

• ICE escalated day-laborer enforcement at L.A. Home Depot sites over a series of raids in April and June, detaining more than 40 individuals in each operation.
• On June 19, agents tackled and handcuffed photographer and doctoral student Job Garcia for recording a raid at Hollywood’s Home Depot, holding him for over an hour before releasing him without charges.
• While held at a staging area near Dodger Stadium, agents reportedly celebrated seizing “31 bodies” and high-fived as they processed detainees, a moment Garcia described as dehumanizing.
• Garcia said agents never requested identification or confirmed his citizenship, switching him to flimsy restraints so tight that his hands swelled.
• Civil liberties groups and local leaders have filed legal challenges and staged protests calling for greater oversight of ICE’s tactics after similar U.S. citizen detentions, including that of Adrian Martinez on June 17.