I stopped going to Home Depot when Trump started these raids. There was a raid on a local Home Depot in Sacramento and I'm not going to shop at a store that puts customers into dangerous conditions.
I'm happy to shop at Lowe's instead. The two stores are almost always both in a market, so it's not that difficult to shift to Lowe's.
I'd like to know more about what Home Depot's options are, however. Are there specific things they could be doing to protect day laborers and customers but aren't?
Let's look at this rationally. Two things can be true at the same time: (1) HD has zero obligation to workers and/or customers that are on HD property to protect them against federal enforcement of immigrations laws (no matter how horrific the enforcement-illegal acts by ICE must ultimately be stopped by the courts, as unsatisfying as that is) and (2) only a massive boycott against HD which hits it where it hurts ($) will have any impact.
I'm not certain this is Home Depot's fault. I work at a medical facility. Corporate has told us ICE has the right to enter the lobby. They cannot come back to patient waiting rooms due to privacy (HIPAA & such).
As consumers, we have enormous power if we act together. That's one area where people can act without fear of reprisals. We cannot be compelled where to spend - or not spend - our money. Ask Target about what a boycott can do to sales and stock prices.
Ironically, Amazon which conceivably gives even more money to the Trump regime than Target is making bank on contractors having to order things online because they can no longer send their workers to Targets or other hardware stores. That is the predicament mine found himself in, in Chicago. All of his workers are being terrorized by the presence of ICE in our city. Basically, in our Plutocracy, almost all the people we are giving our money to, are funneling it to Trump.
Andra Watkins made a list of businesses that are bad, and some alternatives in some posts she has had on Substack.
The list is changing because she gets new information, so you can always do your own research on a business.
I know that Home Depots in Chicago have been poorly stocked, so I presume they have lost workers as well, or is it just supply chain issues. My contractor was telling me everything he and his workers were going through as well as the stories of friends of theirs who were picked up. He could send no one to a store, and store delivery is not fast enough for the needs of most contractors. Many things were delayed on our work, because he had to order them online.
I am not sure how Home Depot could be doing more to protect people in their parking lots, or even in their stores. Please explain how they can do that.
Boycotts work! SCOTUS and CONGRESS won’t save us, but Trump-compliant CEOs can if their bottom lines are threatened. Besides Home Depot and Disney, there’s now a national movement to “unsubscribe from Spotify,” powered by Indivisible and others, because they run recruiting ads for ICE. According to Newsweek, People’s Union USA is marshaling a nationwide boycott starting today, November 1, of four corporations that support Trump: Amazon, Target, Home Depot, and Kellogg. Let’s roll! Power to the people!
I know someone who works at the Depot for 20+ years. Whatever else they are they’re good to their longterm employees.
That said, the claim that they don’t know what’s happening at the store level is total bullshit. The employees get checks every quarter for “Success Sharing” if you are above your sales plan at the store. The store this woman works at has a guy at the Pro Desk who basically makes or breaks their success sharing. Surprise! He’s the bilingual guy who has the best rapport with the workers who are in and out for supplies for the jobs as well as the owners who buy the big deliveries of whatever. It seems pretty straightforward to me.
I’ve been under the impression that the modus operandi for major corporations is having Trump mega-donors reach out to him privately to change plans and policies. Most recently, that showed up in the tech bros keeping the National Guard out of their turf in San Francisco.
So it surprises me that the very Republican-friendly Home Depot is finding itself in this unpleasant predicament.
Thank you for reporting on Hispanic related things. We need another update on the dodgers as well. If they were to win - I wonder if these bastards will go to the White House.
I too have boycotted Home Depot for years due to their "republican roots" and support for the felon in charge. I only stop at HD on road trips to use their bathrooms.
This is a good piece and the underlying situation is horrific (I live adjacent to the largest -- and most awesome -- Latino immigrant community in Baltimore, with a Home Depot about two miles away). I just want to add one critical detail that I feel the author must know but which is not stated explicitly in the posted story.
Carrasquillo characterizes the attractiveness of Home Depot as a target for raids thusly: "The Trump administration has defended these actions by insisting that ... they are just going to where the undocumented workers are. In this case, they apparently have in mind those who are getting materials and equipment for landscaping, painting rooms in suburban homes, and clearing gutters."
Yes, AND. And the "and" here is huge. Many Home Depot parking lots are not merely, nor even primarily, attractive targets for ICE/CBP thugs for their customers in transit; they are de facto day laboror gathering, pickup, and drop-off points known for years to both the laboror communities themselves and the contractors who engage them for day labor. It is not atypical in Home Depots within driving distance of large immingrant communities to have dozens if not in some cases a hundred or more day laborors gathered over the course of an entire day in the peripheries of the parking lots hoping for a day gig. A handful may sometimes sleep nearby or in vehicles; most return home only to arrive at or near dawn the next day.
Home Depot benefits from this, of course, as it creates an additional reason for general contractors of any ethnic background to swing on in for supplies if and when they have come to the parking lots for day laborors anyway.
A raid on such a lot, then, is often much more than a random trawl for transient customers and perhaps a few less transient employees; it is a tactical assault on a gathered group of vulnerable people literally where they are because they are seeking work.
I feel like clarifying this may be obvious and again I think the author here knows this. But I just wanted to be perhaps overly clear about it for the sake of anyone reading who may not live near Home Depots proximate to large ethnic communities. It also reframes (um, no pun intended) the notion of Home Depot having moved to offering free delivery. Said free delivery may indeed require fewer store visits for laborors and GCs procuring supplies, but it doesn't change the underlying situation at all for day laborers SEEKING day labor who still need to congregate at the long-known commerce/engagement points.
As for my wife and I, until recently we balanced our dislike of Home Depot's ownership against the fact that Home Depot has presence in Baltimore City whereas Lowes (which we prefer both politically and also simply as consumers) limits itself to county locations. But I think at this point, that balance has tipped; providing the city proper with more economic activity is still good, but not at the catastrophic expense of our neighbors.
I've already decided to not shop at Home Depot. I don't shop there often, so it doesn't have much of an impact. But I won't shop at stores that I know have donated and support Trump. Those corporations could have some influence on him if they wanted, but they are choosing to endorse the human rights violations by their silence.
I canceled my spotify subscription after learning they’re running ICE recruitment ads. Easy call.
Do it, NDLON and CARACEN. Progressive America will absolutely join you.
Look at what we did to Tesla.
I stopped going to Home Depot when Trump started these raids. There was a raid on a local Home Depot in Sacramento and I'm not going to shop at a store that puts customers into dangerous conditions.
I’ve switched to Menards. I’ve heard some troubling stories there too, but have not heard that their management is pro-Trump. At least not so far.
I'm happy to shop at Lowe's instead. The two stores are almost always both in a market, so it's not that difficult to shift to Lowe's.
I'd like to know more about what Home Depot's options are, however. Are there specific things they could be doing to protect day laborers and customers but aren't?
Let's look at this rationally. Two things can be true at the same time: (1) HD has zero obligation to workers and/or customers that are on HD property to protect them against federal enforcement of immigrations laws (no matter how horrific the enforcement-illegal acts by ICE must ultimately be stopped by the courts, as unsatisfying as that is) and (2) only a massive boycott against HD which hits it where it hurts ($) will have any impact.
I'm not certain this is Home Depot's fault. I work at a medical facility. Corporate has told us ICE has the right to enter the lobby. They cannot come back to patient waiting rooms due to privacy (HIPAA & such).
As consumers, we have enormous power if we act together. That's one area where people can act without fear of reprisals. We cannot be compelled where to spend - or not spend - our money. Ask Target about what a boycott can do to sales and stock prices.
Ironically, Amazon which conceivably gives even more money to the Trump regime than Target is making bank on contractors having to order things online because they can no longer send their workers to Targets or other hardware stores. That is the predicament mine found himself in, in Chicago. All of his workers are being terrorized by the presence of ICE in our city. Basically, in our Plutocracy, almost all the people we are giving our money to, are funneling it to Trump.
Andra Watkins made a list of businesses that are bad, and some alternatives in some posts she has had on Substack.
Part 1
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/where-can-i-spend-money-and-boycott?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Part 2
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/part-ii-where-can-i-spend-money-and?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
The list is changing because she gets new information, so you can always do your own research on a business.
I know that Home Depots in Chicago have been poorly stocked, so I presume they have lost workers as well, or is it just supply chain issues. My contractor was telling me everything he and his workers were going through as well as the stories of friends of theirs who were picked up. He could send no one to a store, and store delivery is not fast enough for the needs of most contractors. Many things were delayed on our work, because he had to order them online.
I am not sure how Home Depot could be doing more to protect people in their parking lots, or even in their stores. Please explain how they can do that.
Boycotts work! SCOTUS and CONGRESS won’t save us, but Trump-compliant CEOs can if their bottom lines are threatened. Besides Home Depot and Disney, there’s now a national movement to “unsubscribe from Spotify,” powered by Indivisible and others, because they run recruiting ads for ICE. According to Newsweek, People’s Union USA is marshaling a nationwide boycott starting today, November 1, of four corporations that support Trump: Amazon, Target, Home Depot, and Kellogg. Let’s roll! Power to the people!
Dems still shop at HD? We know who they are and have for YEARS. Spend your money elsewhere.
I know someone who works at the Depot for 20+ years. Whatever else they are they’re good to their longterm employees.
That said, the claim that they don’t know what’s happening at the store level is total bullshit. The employees get checks every quarter for “Success Sharing” if you are above your sales plan at the store. The store this woman works at has a guy at the Pro Desk who basically makes or breaks their success sharing. Surprise! He’s the bilingual guy who has the best rapport with the workers who are in and out for supplies for the jobs as well as the owners who buy the big deliveries of whatever. It seems pretty straightforward to me.
In no universe does HD not have daily if not hourly sales returns by store
I’ve been under the impression that the modus operandi for major corporations is having Trump mega-donors reach out to him privately to change plans and policies. Most recently, that showed up in the tech bros keeping the National Guard out of their turf in San Francisco.
So it surprises me that the very Republican-friendly Home Depot is finding itself in this unpleasant predicament.
Thank you for reporting on Hispanic related things. We need another update on the dodgers as well. If they were to win - I wonder if these bastards will go to the White House.
I too have boycotted Home Depot for years due to their "republican roots" and support for the felon in charge. I only stop at HD on road trips to use their bathrooms.
This is a good piece and the underlying situation is horrific (I live adjacent to the largest -- and most awesome -- Latino immigrant community in Baltimore, with a Home Depot about two miles away). I just want to add one critical detail that I feel the author must know but which is not stated explicitly in the posted story.
Carrasquillo characterizes the attractiveness of Home Depot as a target for raids thusly: "The Trump administration has defended these actions by insisting that ... they are just going to where the undocumented workers are. In this case, they apparently have in mind those who are getting materials and equipment for landscaping, painting rooms in suburban homes, and clearing gutters."
Yes, AND. And the "and" here is huge. Many Home Depot parking lots are not merely, nor even primarily, attractive targets for ICE/CBP thugs for their customers in transit; they are de facto day laboror gathering, pickup, and drop-off points known for years to both the laboror communities themselves and the contractors who engage them for day labor. It is not atypical in Home Depots within driving distance of large immingrant communities to have dozens if not in some cases a hundred or more day laborors gathered over the course of an entire day in the peripheries of the parking lots hoping for a day gig. A handful may sometimes sleep nearby or in vehicles; most return home only to arrive at or near dawn the next day.
Home Depot benefits from this, of course, as it creates an additional reason for general contractors of any ethnic background to swing on in for supplies if and when they have come to the parking lots for day laborors anyway.
A raid on such a lot, then, is often much more than a random trawl for transient customers and perhaps a few less transient employees; it is a tactical assault on a gathered group of vulnerable people literally where they are because they are seeking work.
I feel like clarifying this may be obvious and again I think the author here knows this. But I just wanted to be perhaps overly clear about it for the sake of anyone reading who may not live near Home Depots proximate to large ethnic communities. It also reframes (um, no pun intended) the notion of Home Depot having moved to offering free delivery. Said free delivery may indeed require fewer store visits for laborors and GCs procuring supplies, but it doesn't change the underlying situation at all for day laborers SEEKING day labor who still need to congregate at the long-known commerce/engagement points.
As for my wife and I, until recently we balanced our dislike of Home Depot's ownership against the fact that Home Depot has presence in Baltimore City whereas Lowes (which we prefer both politically and also simply as consumers) limits itself to county locations. But I think at this point, that balance has tipped; providing the city proper with more economic activity is still good, but not at the catastrophic expense of our neighbors.
I've already decided to not shop at Home Depot. I don't shop there often, so it doesn't have much of an impact. But I won't shop at stores that I know have donated and support Trump. Those corporations could have some influence on him if they wanted, but they are choosing to endorse the human rights violations by their silence.