By CHRISTOPHER WEBER AND JAIMIE DING
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. Border Patrol brokers jumped out of the again of a rented field truck and made arrests Wednesday at a Los Angeles Dwelling Depot retailer throughout an immigration raid that an company official known as “Operation Trojan Horse.”
The early morning raid close to downtown LA got here simply days after a federal appeals court docket upheld a federal decide’s order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California.
“For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” performing U.S. Atty. Invoice Essayli posted on the social platform X after the raid. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
Pictures on social media confirmed the second the rear door of the rented Penske truck opened, revealing a number of uniformed brokers with weapons. A spokesperson for Penske Truck Rental mentioned the corporate was trying into using its automobiles by federal officers, saying its rules prohibit transporting individuals in truck cargo areas.
Since June, the Los Angeles area has been a battleground within the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration technique that spurred protests and the deployment of the Nationwide Guards and Marines for greater than a month. Federal brokers have rounded up immigrants with out authorized standing to be within the U.S. from Dwelling Depots, automotive washes, bus stops, and farms. Some U.S. residents have additionally been detained.
Lupe Carrasco Cardona, an educator with Union del Barrio, mentioned members of her advocacy group have been conducting common patrols on the Dwelling Depot early Monday after they noticed a Penske truck pull into the car parking zone, promoting work to the day laborers there. Immigrant employees, some with authorized standing and others with out, typically wait in Dwelling Depot parking tons to be employed for varied day jobs.
“They opened the back, they hopped out and they started indiscriminately just grabbing people,” Cardona mentioned.
This picture taken from video reveals U.S. Border Patrol brokers leaping out of a Penske field truck throughout an immigration raid at a Dwelling Depot in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (FOX Information/Matt Finn by way of AP)
Unmarked white vans with U.S. Customs and Border Safety brokers arrived shortly after the truck to take part within the operation, Cardona mentioned. The group has recognized three avenue distributors and 4 day laborers that have been arrested, however they have been nonetheless making an attempt to account for others. Members of the family mentioned one avenue vendor tried to point out proof of holding asylum earlier than he was arrested, she mentioned.
Final month, a federal decide quickly blocked federal brokers from utilizing racial profiling to hold out indiscriminate arrests after the ACLU, Public Counsel and different advocacy teams sued over the practices. Attorneys for the federal government argued that the order hinders brokers from finishing up immigration enforcement, however the ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Attraction on Friday upheld the order.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, has beforehand mentioned that “enforcement operations are highly targeted.”
The Nationwide Day Laborer Organizing Community condemned Wednesday’s raid, calling focused employees the spine of the native economic system.
“Today’s raid staged by agents in cowboy hats jumping out of a rented van with a TV crew in tow marks a dangerous escalation in the Trump Administration’s assault on immigrant communities, the courts, and the people of Los Angeles,” Pablo Alvarado, the group’s co-executive director, mentioned in an announcement.
Initially Revealed: August 6, 2025 at 7:21 PM EDT
