Noise machines at Home Depot worsen the stress for day laborers

A pair of blue and yellow earplugs dangle on Jose’s neck while he waits for work as a day laborer outside the Home Depot in Cypress Park.

- BY ITZEL LUNA

MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times HOME DEPOT "knew what it was doing and chose to weaponize sound," an L.A. council member said.

They've been a necessity for laborers in the area since late November, when Home Depot installed three machines in the parking lot that emit a high-pitched tone. The noise, typically kept on all day, is a piercing sound that “penetrates your bones,” he said.

The Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California, or IDEPSCA, a nonprofit that supports day laborers, held a news conference at Home Depot on Wednesday, calling for the company to remove the machines and vocalize opposition to the immigration raids taking place in its parking lots, part of a growing number of protests targeting corporate cooperation with immigration enforcement.

Home Depot locations nationwide have been a prime target for Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids under President Trump's immigration crackdown. In early November, ICE agents detained a man at the Cypress Park location and then drove off with his toddler in the back of the vehicle.

About 50 people have been detained at the Cypress Park location this year, said Maegan Ortiz, IDEPSCA’s executive director. The machines are an attempt to push day laborers off its lots, she said.