Monday, June 29, 2026

Pasadena’s Rep. Chu Presses Home Depot, Lowe’s for Answers on Immigration Enforcement at Stores

United States Representative Judy Chu at the 53rd Annual Police and Citizens Awards Ceremony [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]

Twenty-six Democratic lawmakers cite a death in Monrovia and other incidents in a letter requesting information from the retailers by June 29

The Home Depot on Mountain Avenue in Monrovia sits about six miles from Rep. Judy Chu’s district office on South Lake Avenue. Both are in her 28th Congressional District. So is the Pasadena Community Job Center on North Lake Avenue, where day laborers line up each morning for work.

Last week, Chu and 25 Democratic colleagues sent a letter to Home Depot CEO Ted Decker and Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison requesting information about federal immigration enforcement operations that have occurred at or near the companies’ stores since January 2025, according to Chu’s office. The lawmakers set a response deadline of June 29.

The letter asks nine categories of questions about the scope of the operations, whether the companies received advance notice, and whether federal agencies have requested surveillance footage, license plate data, or employee records, according to the letter posted by Chu’s office.

The lawmakers wrote that the operations have increased significantly since President Trump took office, particularly after White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to target stores like Home Depot to meet detention and deportation quotas, according to the letter.

The letter cites five incidents described as troubling. In June 2025, a U.S. citizen was tackled and detained for 24 hours after attempting to film enforcement activity at a Hollywood Home Depot, and a tamale vendor outside a Lowe’s in Pacoima was detained, suffered a heart attack after pleading that she could not breathe, and was hospitalized for five days, according to the letter. In August 2025, Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, a 52-year-old laborer, was fatally struck by a vehicle on a nearby freeway after fleeing federal agents at the Monrovia Home Depot, the letter states. That same month, masked agents emerged from a rental truck and arrested 16 laborers outside a Westlake Home Depot, according to the letter. In November 2025, federal immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen outside a Los Angeles Home Depot, entered the person’s vehicle, and drove away while the individual’s one-year-old daughter was strapped into a car seat in the back, the letter states. The child was later picked up by a family member at a federal office in Los Angeles.

“As Members of Congress, we believe it is important to understand what information your companies possess regarding these incidents and what steps are being taken to protect the safety of workers, customers, bystanders, and surrounding communities,” the lawmakers wrote.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which is headquartered in Pasadena and operates the Pasadena Community Job Center at 500 North Lake Avenue, endorsed the letter. “Doing nothing, while there is a human rights crisis happening in your community or at your stores is not an option. And basic transparency is a modest and critical first step,” said Salvador G. Sarmiento, a staff attorney and campaign director at the network.

The letter notes that Home Depot investors earlier this year asked the company to review its contract with Flock Safety, a surveillance vendor, to determine potential civil rights and privacy violations after it was reported that surveillance data was shared with ICE, according to Chu’s office. The AFL-CIO Reserve Fund submitted a similar request for Lowe’s regarding sensitive information collected by Flock cameras, the letter states.

A Home Depot spokesperson has told Reuters the company “cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies, including preventing them from coming into our stores and parking lots.”

Neither company has publicly responded to the letter.

In addition to Chu, the letter was signed by 25 Democratic members of Congress, 15 of them from California. The full text and list of signatories are available on Chu’s official website.