LOS ANGELES — A series of protests took place around the city here and at Home Depot parking lots across the country July 1 to show support for workers targeted by government immigration raids and roundups. At a Home Depot in Hollywood the few workers gathered there looking for work were joined by protesters who had come out to support them. They reported a raid had taken place there the day before. Prior to the raids, they said, more than 100 workers would usually gather there seeking work, but today there were fewer than a dozen.
At Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights that afternoon, more than 400 joined a march and rally to highlight the effect raids were having on workers and the families of those who have been detained, are still being held or have been deported.
Speaking to fellow protesters at a table of the Socialist Workers Party, Ellie Garcia said, “We need the unions to take the lead in calling actions to demand ‘Amnesty now!’ to abolish the paraiah status workers without papers can get pushed into.
“The bosses are aiming to keep immigrant workers scared and intimidated, in order to drive down the wages and conditions for all workers. This isn’t just a Donald Trump policy, it’s the policy of the capitalist class, which they use to try and set immigrant and native-born workers against each other, rather than seeing what’s wrong is their system of exploitation.”