PHOENIX — Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continued in the Valley Saturday, with demonstrators gathering outside a Home Depot near 36th Street and Thomas Road.
Chanting and marching, protesters criticized both ICE and Home Depot, saying day laborers have recently been detained by federal agents in the store’s parking lot.
Immigrant rights activist Salvador Reza accused the retailer of not speaking out strongly enough against enforcement actions.
“They cannot be complicit. They have not denounced, not even one time, denounced ICE,” Reza said.
Protest organizers say the demonstration was also meant to support a woman named Patricia, who says her husband, Fernando Molina Mendoza, a day laborer, was detained by ICE in the parking lot earlier this month.
“They just kidnapped him. And they took him away. That’s how I feel, they kidnapped him, and took him away,” Patricia said. “I didn’t know nothing of him for seven days.”
Protesters say Molina Mendoza is now being held at an ICE detention facility in Florence, Arizona.
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Some Arizona Republicans say they support continued ICE enforcement near businesses like Home Depot, arguing it protects legal workers from unfair competition.
“My father was a tile setter. I saw growing up what it’s like to see someone lose wages, lose work because there are people working for unfair wages and it hurts our labor force,” Matt Evans, a Republican candidate for Phoenix City Council, said.
Evans also said that despite public opposition tied to immigration enforcement in other cities, he wants to see more ICE agents in Phoenix.
“It’s what I voted for, I have been waiting for this my whole life, we need to clean up our streets, close our borders, and deport every last illegal immigrant in this country,” Evans said.
Back at the rally, organizers said they plan to keep showing up if ICE activity increases in the Valley.
Former democratic state senator Raquel Terán said protests are also about making sure people understand their rights.
“We will be here to make sure people know everybody, regardless of their immigration status, they have rights,” Terán said. “We will be here to make sure everyone is protected, that we show up for one another.”
The protests continue as Arizona’s U.S. senators introduced a bill this week aimed at ICE reform, which would include stricter policies on when agents can use deadly force and whether they can wear masks during enforcement actions.
ABC15 also reached out to Home Depot about calls to boycott the company over immigration enforcement in its parking lots. A spokesperson responded with the following statement:
“We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and we aren’t involved in the operations. We aren't coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol. We cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies, including preventing them from coming into our stores and parking lots.”
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