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Home improvement store parking lots were once teeming with aspiring laborers looking for a day’s work. Contractors needing temporary help would swing by and scoop up a few workers for the day, and a symbiotic ecosystem thrived. Workers could snag a day’s pay, and contractors could get cheap, temporary help without all the paperwork.
Since President Trump was reelected, labor experts have warned of unpredictable outcomes for sectors dependent on immigrant labor, including construction and residential housing. The recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles area Home Depot
store parking lots sparked protests and put a nationwide pall over the day laborer community. But beyond the deployment of troops and political finger-pointing, labor experts say that the Home Depot parking lot sweeps could have wide-ranging effects on whether critical work in the U.S. gets done.
George Carrillo, CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council, estimates there are tens of thousands of “parking lot day laborers” across the country and that the recent ICE raids will have a chilling effect that ripples through the entire economy.
