{"id":17952,"date":"2026-07-26T16:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17952"},"modified":"2026-07-26T16:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:02:36","slug":"ndlon-hosts-the-first-day-laborer-convention-since-ice-raids-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17952","title":{"rendered":"NDLON hosts the first day laborer convention since ICE raids began"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/38124fa\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/4000x3080+0+0\/resize\/1500x1155!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff8%2Fa3%2Fe55201464dc3b5fe8ff6fa2a1aa9%2F1564016-me-ndlon-day-laborer-convention-01-mjc.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>Carlos wasn\u2019t surprised when immigration agents cornered him at a Home Depot in Los Angeles last summer. <\/p>\n<p>His luck had finally run out, he thought. <\/p>\n<p>The 68-year-old, originally from Guatemala, had spent nearly every morning for more than 30 years looking for work in Home Depot parking lots. He\u2019d evaded immigration agents at least three times before he was detained in late June. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew that sooner or later, it would happen to me,\u201d Carlos said. \u201cI\u2019d be out there seven days a week. I had to go out and look for work. I had no choice. How else would I pay my rent?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He spent four and half months in ICE detention before he was released in November, with the help of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which provided financial and legal support to his case. <\/p>\n<p>Carlos joined around 80 other day laborers on Saturday at a convention held by NDLON in Pasadena, the first time the community came together in person since the raids began last year. <\/p>\n<p>An in-person event of this scale was difficult to organize but necessary to NDLON\u2019s activism, said Pablo Alvarado, the organization\u2019s co-executive director. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s power when people come together,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cWhen workers feel isolated, they don\u2019t build community. The first step of of fighting back is getting to know each other, getting to talk to each other.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Similar regional conventions are being planned across the country, he said. <\/p>\n<p>The impact of immigration enforcement varied among the assembled day laborers. Some had been in detention for months late last year. One man was released from Adelanto ICE Processing Center just days ago. But all of them have daily feared the same fate since <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2026-05-26\/those-caught-in-trump-immigration-dragnet-seek-millions-for-raids-shootings-trauma\">aggressive immigration raids<\/a> swept Los Angeles and other cities across the country. <\/p>\n<p>Day laborers and activists came from across Southern California, including San Diego and the Antelope Valley, to discuss the effects  of ICE raids on their lives. Volunteers who provide support and rapid response to workers before and after immigration raids were also in attendance. <\/p>\n<p>A main topic of discussion was a  possible boycott against Home Depot, which <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-11-22\/ice-out-of-home-depot-monrovia\">activists say<\/a> has not done enough to stop the raids. <\/p>\n<p>Home Depot parking lots have been informal job sites for day laborers for decades, many of whom are immigrants and <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-08-15\/home-depot-ice-enforcement-battleground-los-angeles\">show up every morning<\/a> seeking work. These same lots have <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2025-09-09\/home-depot-stores-long-a-hub-for-day-laborers-now-draw-immigration-agents-out-on-raids\"><u>become key targets<\/u><\/a> for immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. <\/p>\n<p>The day-long convention was over a month in the making, and it was difficult to get day laborers comfortable with congregating in person, Alvarado said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSacrificing a day to come and have a conversation is not easy for workers,\u201d Alvardo said. \u201cThere\u2019s obviously a sense of fear in mobilizing from one place to another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Day laborers were greeted with a musical performance from Los Jornaleros del Norte, a six-person band composed of Alvarado and other NDLON organizers. <\/p>\n<p>Lawyers offered free legal consultations to immigrants throughout the convention and the organization provided a food pantry at the end of the event.<\/p>\n<p>Day laborers crowded around notepads during the discussions, encouraged to openly debate on what they need to ensure their own safety while seeking work. Some were quiet at first and struggled to put their experiences into words. <\/p>\n<p>Eventually many took turns sharing what they\u2019d witnessed \u2014 friends and acquaintances getting detained and immigration agents swarming parking lots, sometimes dozens at a time. The past year has been a horror, many agreed. <\/p>\n<p>Most day laborers declined to have their names included in The Times for fear of retaliation. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are talking about the future of day laborers, the future of immigrants, and immigrants are not in the discussion,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cYou have to ask the laborers what is it that they think, what they want, and I don\u2019t think that that has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Much of the day was spent debating a potential boycott of Home Depot. Chris Newman, NDLON\u2018s legal director and general counsel, gave a presentation on what a Home Depot boycott could mean for workers. <\/p>\n<p>The company has been silent on the raids taking place in their parking lots, and should be doing more to protect day laborers, NDLON organizers said. <\/p>\n<p>A Home Deport spokesperson told The Times the company does not coordinate with ICE or Border Patrol. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe aren\u2019t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen and we aren\u2019t involved in the operations,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies, including preventing them from coming into our stores and parking lots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NDLON has maintained a neutral stance on boycotting the company and hoped Saturday\u2019s event would help illuminate the organization\u2019s next steps, Alvarado said. A boycott could harm day laborers who rely on customers to hire them for manual labor jobs. <\/p>\n<p>Day laborers were largely split on a potential boycott. One question rang across the crowd: \u201cIf no one goes to shop, how will we find work?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if we do nothing, how will we be heard?\u201d another day laborer asked during the group discussion. <\/p>\n<p>Jesus, a Mexican native living in Pasadena, has been heavily involved in NDLON activism since he was released from ICE detention in January. <\/p>\n<p>He was detained while working at a car wash in August, and the advocacy organization was crucial to his release. NDLON provided him legal representation and paid for his bail, which let him return home to his four young children.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Jesus connected NDLON with other men he was detained with, some of who have since been released. He still speaks regularly with a few friends who are still in detention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if we don\u2019t know each other, you become family,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cWe\u2019re all comrades in this. I feel so good to be here and help however I can. Many of us don\u2019t have that luxury.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carlos wasn\u2019t surprised when immigration agents cornered him at a Home Depot in Los Angeles last summer. His luck had finally run out, he thought. The 68-year-old, originally from Guatemala, had spent nearly every morning for more than 30 years looking for work in Home Depot parking lots. He\u2019d evaded immigration agents at least three&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/fcfab48\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4000x2100+0+490\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff8%2Fa3%2Fe55201464dc3b5fe8ff6fa2a1aa9%2F1564016-me-ndlon-day-laborer-convention-01-mjc.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}