A toddler was among at least six people taken by immigration agents outside a Home Depot in Cypress Park on Tuesday morning, witnesses and responders said.
Agents wearing U.S. Border Patrol vests descended on the parking lot and nearby streets in an operation that involved about a dozen unmarked vehicles with about two dozen agents in full tactical gear, according to Maegan Ortiz, executive director of IDEPSCA, which operates five day laborer centers.
Ortiz said immigration agents wearing masks and carrying assault weapons entered their day laborer center, which she noted is private property and is under contract with the city of LA. She said day laborers were among those taken.
“They threw my site coordinator onto the ground, handcuffed him, put their knees into his back and detained him,” she said. The coordinator was eventually let go and took himself to the hospital due to swelling in his hands from the handcuffs, Ortiz added.
One LA Tenants Union member, who didn’t want to share her name over fear for her safety, witnessed agents detain a day laborer on a sidewalk near the Home Depot’s west entrance. She was recording as six agents surrounded the man, who lay face down wearing a yellow “West Coast” hoodie.
“Tell me your name, tell me your number so I can tell people,” she can be heard yelling in a video shared with the Beat. Moments later, an agent pepper-sprayed him and he was handcuffed and taken by agents into a white Jeep SUV.
Shortly after, the union member rushed to the south side of the lot under the 5 Freeway overpass, where agents were surrounding a black car. She recorded two agents in the front seats while a toddler sat strapped to a car seat in the back.
“There’s a baby in there,” she can be heard screaming in the video.
Another piece of footage shows a man, who the union member referred to as the child’s father, being interrogated by agents. The union member said he was forced into a white SUV in handcuffs.
By Tuesday afternoon, the child was safe and back with family, according to rapid response networks who posted on Instagram.
IDEPSCA day laborer centers have been raided a total of 15 times, Ortiz said. All of those raids, she said, have been conducted by Border Patrol agents. “Clearly we are being targeted as an organization,” Ortiz said.
“Today is Election Day, on a day that that everyone is being called to participate civically, that also means a call to the mayor’s office about what she is doing in the city of Los Angeles to protect not just immigrants, but also the organizations that serve immigrants such as ours,” she added.
Alfredo, a vendor who sells work boots outside of the Home Depot, said he saw about 25 cars drive by this morning with about 50 immigration agents. He said they parked near the store, got out and began detaining people nearby, including a fruit vendor.
“His daughter, who I think is a U.S. citizen, ran and tried to defend him. She kept saying to let him go and they didn’t,” Alfredo said in Spanish.
Alfredo, who did not want his last name published out of fear for his safety, said the agents were in civilian cars and wearing masks.
“They came to me and asked me if I had papers,” he said, “I showed them my residency card.”
Videos and photos posted by Unión del Barrio, a volunteer network of residents patrolling the streets for ICE activity, appear to show armed federal agents inside the Cypress Park Home Depot at 9:21 a.m. and in its parking lot around 9:55 a.m.
Another photo posted by Unión del Barrio confirmed the presence of around 20 federal agent vehicles parked near Dodger Stadium at 10:18 a.m. According to The Los Angeles Times, around 100 agents were seen in parking lot 13, just outside stadium property next to the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center that is used by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Lupe Carrasco Cardona, a member of Unión del Barrio, confirmed with the Beat that members of her group and the greater Community Self Defense Coalition were on the ground at both locations to observe enforcement action and to warn community members nearby of their rights.
In June, masked agents descended on the Cypress Park Home Depot, chasing people around the parking lot and detaining at least 10 individuals. Immigration agents had raided the same location at least once before that month.
Tuesday’s operation in LA comes as voters head to the polls in a closely-watched special election. Gov. Gavin Newsom in October warned voters that members of the military, ICE or Border Patrol may be seen in and around voting places across the country on Election Day.
When Newsom launched the campaign for Prop. 50 at an event in Little Tokyo, federal immigration agents held an operation outside the venue and detained a strawberry vendor nearby.
Boyle Heights Beat reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Dodgers organization but has not yet received a response.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, to include that the child was reunited with family.