Anti-ICE activists hold Home Depot business operations hostage with disruptive ice-scraper stunt

A "buy-in" protest against federal immigration operations at Home Depot has led to clogged lines at a store in Southern California, where a man allegedly being chased by officials was killed after running onto a freeway.

About a hundred protesters stood in line to buy one item, an ice scraper, at the store in Monrovia and then waited in line to return the item, worth about 17 cents, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

'Buy it and try to collapse their system for a moment, or for some time, with the group of people that are witnessing and are willing to stay, to stand up for the human rights of day laborers.'

Home Depot has denied involvement in the operations, but the company's critics say that Home Depot is not doing enough to protect customers and employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A spokesperson for Home Depot sent a brief comment to Blaze News via email about the protest.

"We aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen, and we aren’t involved in the operations," the spokesperson wrote. "We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate."

Video on social media showed the protesters standing in line, some with signs criticizing Home Depot. The protest was organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

"Whether the corporation wants to admit it or not, Home Depot has become ground zero for this cruel, vicious immigration enforcement that’s taking place in our country," said National Day Laborer Organizing Network co-director Pablo Alvarado to the Times.

The Department of Homeland Security has previously denied that the man who was killed after running from the Home Depot was being pursued by DHS officers. The 52-year-old man from Guatemala was struck by a vehicle on the freeway.

"We want to scrape ICE from our communities," said NDLON communications director Palmira Figueroa to KCBS-TV. "It's kind of symbolic, right, to use an ice scraper. Buy it and try to collapse their system for a moment, or for some time, with the group of people that are witnessing and are willing to stay, to stand up for the human rights of day laborers."

Some pointed out that they were actually buying putty knives, not ice scrapers, likely because ice scrapers don't sell well in the Southern Californian climate.

RELATED: VIDEO: Leotarded liberals protest ICE facility with '80s-themed aerobics class

The protest lasted for about an hour before the protesters started to march through the store, which led to store workers closing it down.

"Oh, you can actually shut a store, right?" replied Figueroa. "You can shut for this, but you cannot, you have not, shut them when an ICE raid and abuse is happening."

Some have also called for a boycott against Home Depot over the ICE operations.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!