A coalition of elected officials, unions and labor rights groups rallied Friday to defend a Cypress Park day care center as news spread that Home Depot wanted to fire it, a claim the home improvement store denies.
State Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza (D-Los Angeles) said Home Depot’s head of government relations and affairs called her Thursday night and said the labor center would be served with an eviction notice.
The Cypress Park Community Service Center — run by the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, or IDEPSCA — sits on the edge of the store’s parking lot at 2055 N. Figueroa St., just under the 5 freeway. It has operated there for more than 20 years, according to Maegan Ortiz, executive director of IDEPSCA.
Caloza said he has sent word to local groups that have rallied and demonstrated in defense of the facility, which is ceding space to Home Depot — which, in turn, leases the space to the California Department of Transportation.
Day laborers wait for work at a Cypress Park Home Depot store in Los Angeles on Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A Caltrans spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. But in an email to The Times, Home Depot spokeswoman Beth Marlowe denied that the call happened as Caloza described.
“There are no plans or discussions about withdrawing IDEPSCA,” he wrote.
On Friday morning, nearly 100 people gathered at the center. They were holding signs that read “Protect our workers” and “Protect day labor centers!
Caloza used a microphone to address the crowd as shoppers wandered through the parking lot.
“Ten minutes before this press conference, Home Depot was blasting me, my office and spreading lies this was just a simple misunderstanding,” he said.
Many in the crowd roared.
“We’re done with the lies at Home Depot,” he said to cheers and applause. “Make no mistake: Only one of us lies, and it’s not us.”
Ortiz said any attempt to banish a day labor center from the site would run afoul of a 2008 Los Angeles city ordinance that requires Home Depot stores to have attractive labor management facilities. But he said there has been tension between the institutions and the home development giant for years.
Maegan Ortiz – executive director of the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California – checks the parking lot of the Cypress Park Home Depot store on Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Cypress Park store made headlines in November when videos circulated on social media of an American citizen being arrested and taken with his child.
State authorities at the time said the man was arrested on charges of assault and possession of an illegal firearm. They said they took him and the child to another place away from the angry protesters.
That same day, Ortiz said federal agents permanently injured one of his employees when they handcuffed him during surgery. He said a number of workers have been arrested by union agents since last year.
Tensions flared in May when White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a key architect of President Trump’s immigration policies, berated federal diplomats and immigration officials, asking them: “Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?”
The following month, federal agents ramped up their operations at Home Depot – including using a Penske rental truck as a “Trojan Horse” in LA to catch immigrant workers off guard.
The city got some relief in July when a federal judge issued a temporary injunction barring the Trump administration from “indiscriminately” conducting immigration stops and detentions in Southern California. However, in September, the Supreme Court cleared the way for government agents to continue their work.
Ortiz said the Cypress Park center is one of five IDEPSCAs operate across the city. There are two others run by other organizations. He said these institutions not only provide jobs; they can connect individuals with many services, including housing.
LA City Council member Eunices Hernandez, whose district includes Cypress Park, said the allegations that the facility was ousted were “another case of Home Depot showing itself as a conglomerate that is willing to make a profit from immigrant labor but does not want to stand with the workers.”
Marlowe said Home Depot “has not been notified that immigration enforcement activities will occur, and we are not involved in these activities.”
“We don’t contact ICE or Border Patrol,” Marlowe said. “We will not be able to legally interfere with organizations operating legally, including preventing them from entering our shops and car parks.”
Hernandez and Ortiz said the Cypress Park store in November installed high-pitched sound equipment to allegedly scare day laborers out of the area.
Memorial details for everyday workers at the Cypress Park Home Depot store.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Marlowe denied those claims. He said the noise aids and barriers at the Cypress Park store are designed to prevent illegal night parking, camping and other related issues that pose a safety risk. He did not elaborate on what those other problems were.
“False information was being spread that included these parking lot security measures and immigration laws. That is false,” he wrote in an email.
As the organizers returned to their cars on Friday, Pepe de la Torre, 64, ate a red apple and stared at the crowd. He said he was grateful to the people who came.
He said he has been coming to this labor center since it started working 20 years ago. He said the staff there helped him find a job and connected him to other services including housing. However, he said there are times when he needs to sleep on people’s couches and in his car.
He said his $500 monthly Social Security check is not enough to pay rent in Los Angeles. The work he gets at this center can bring him another $400 a month, just enough to make ends meet.
“This center is very important,” he said. “For some of us, this is all we have.”
