The 17-Cent Revolt of Monrovia - how day laborers force Home Depot to take a stand

In Monrovia, a few miles east of Los Angeles, day laborers and their supporters did something that was both quiet and impossible to miss. They walked into the Home Depot store, bought a single 17-cent ceramic cooktop scraper, this small tool no one normally pays attention to, took it to the register, returned it, and got back in line. Again and again, for hours. An endless loop of purchase, return, and repurchase that slowed down operations and sent a message that could not be ignored: Home Depot should stop serving as a stage for ICE operations. The ceramic cooktop scraper was chosen deliberately. A cheap item that costs almost nothing but is enough to jam a large system. It stands for work, for the small motions everything depends on, and that almost no one notices in everyday life. “We want to scrape ICE out of our communities,” said organizer Erika Andiola. The sentence captured the mood of the day, precise, angry, and shaped by a grief that has not left Monrovia since the death of Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez. He died in August when he tried to flee an ICE operation at the same Home Depot location, ran across the 210 freeway, and was struck by an SUV.

While outside people drummed on the orange Home Depot buckets, hundreds moved through the aisles inside. Some wore homemade aprons with the words “ICE out of Home Depot.” Others held up photos of people who died in ICE operations this year. In front of the store stood two altars decorated with a total of 48 white crosses. Clergy from Pasadena and Altadena reminded everyone that the region had just been hit by one of the worst fires, and that rebuilding would be impossible without day laborers.

Home Depot sent a written statement saying it does not coordinate with ICE and often does not even know that operations have taken place until they are over. But in Monrovia, almost no one believes that anymore. Too many ICE vehicles have been on parking lots where day laborers seek work. Too many men disappeared without a trace after simply trying to support their families. “Whether the corporation admits it or not, these parking lots have become places where people are afraid,” said Pablo Alvarado of NDLON, the network that organized the protest. The buy-in had a double purpose: to disrupt store operations and to show how much day laborers contribute to the customer base. Many of them buy tools there, do repairs for customers who approach them outside, and help keep part of the local economy running. At the same time, they are the first to be targeted during ICE operations.

On this day, Home Depot had to close off one entrance. Cars could no longer pull up to the door. Customers stopped, asked questions, listened. And suddenly it became clear that a 17-cent ceramic cooktop scraper is enough to make a corporation think twice when enough people are holding it at the same time. The protest was only the beginning. Other stores in California are planning similar actions. The message remains clear: anyone who earns their money on these parking lots has a right not to be treated like a threat. And if ICE believes it can conduct chase scenes between tool aisles and exits, then large companies must understand that silence is no longer an option.