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If there is one company most associated with the immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, it's Home Depot. Its stores have been the location of dramatic federal raids targeting day laborers. But the company has largely been quiet. NPR's Alina Selyukh reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Welcome to the Home Depot. Please enjoy your shopping experience.
ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE: Ray Hudson came to his local Home Depot in Los Angeles, preparing for a move.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
SELYUKH: He picked up plastic crates, and usually, he would hire day laborers for help. They tend to gather nearby looking for work.
RAY HUDSON: See, and I could have used a couple of them.
SELYUKH: But they weren't there. Earlier that day, there was an immigration raid during which federal agents in tactical gear jumped out of a rental moving truck. Hudson heard it on the news.
HUDSON: It's just not right. They're not hurting nobody. They're not bothering nobody.
SELYUKH: Immigration officials have raided several Home Depot stores around Los Angeles and more around the country. This week, a man died as he ran from a raid by a Home Depot onto a freeway and was hit by a car. Home Depot did not comment on the death and has generally said little about the raids. A statement to NPR was the same it has issued time and again, that the company does not get notified, it's not involved, it has to follow federal and local rules, and its employees are instructed not to engage for their safety. This hands-off response has Chris Newman growing frustrated with Home Depot.
CHRIS NEWMAN: I sympathize with the fact that they are now ground zero for a big polarizing political and cultural issue.
SELYUKH: Newman advocates for day laborer rights as the legal director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network.
NEWMAN: However, I think that they have a responsibility and certainly a moral obligation to defend day laborers, who are both customers and service the stores where they seek work.
SELYUKH: Home Depot does not have a formal relationship with day laborers, but their history runs deep. As the chain grew to the biggest home improvement store by the 1990s, it set the stage for new demand for day laborers. Contracting crews used to compete for business on the cost of their supplies, but now everyone shops at Home Depot, and that makes the cost of labor a key way to get the edge over rivals. And there is a cheap, on-demand workforce right outside the store.
NEWMAN: Immigration laws change. Attitudes toward immigration change. But, you know, the law of supply and demand is immutable.
SELYUKH: About half of Home Depot's sales are to professional contractors who might need quick help with demolition, construction or cleanup. The other type of customer, Home Depot essentially created. It taught home owners to DIY and skip the contractor. And those shoppers now hire day laborers, too, for quick repairs or landscaping.
NEWMAN: In general, day laborers love Home Depot, and Home Depot's bottom line loves day laborers.
SELYUKH: Home Depot has said that day laborers are not part of its business model, and Wall Street analysts argue they're not a huge customer base and people who hire them would shop at Home Depot either way. Investors, so far, have shrugged off the rates.
JOE FELDMAN: I don't think that it's had any impact really on their sales.
SELYUKH: Joe Feldman is a financial analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.
FELDMAN: It's more of a perception. Is it a safe place to go shop?
SELYUKH: As Home Depot stays quiet, critics have zeroed in on the company's perceived politics. Two of its three founders have supported President Trump, except they have not run Home Depot for about 20 years. One of them died last year. The company donates to both political parties.
Back at the same Home Depot in Los Angeles a few hours after a raid, shopper Margarita Ochoa is noticing a change.
MARGARITA OCHOA: This parking lot is always full. So right now there is, like, so many spaces.
SELYUKH: Ochoa runs a housekeeping business and usually sends her employee to stock up on cleaning supplies and liquids for her pressure washer. But today, she's here herself for the first time in a while.
OCHOA: Because they afraid to come. They afraid to be here, so they didn't want to come today.
SELYUKH: Ochoa says, she hopes Home Depot would say more against the raids and do more, maybe protect people who run inside by closing the doors to immigration agents. She says she is thinking of taking her business elsewhere. But for now, this Home Depot is still the most convenient, and it's been her store for 33 years. Alina Selyukh, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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