LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. Border Patrol agents emerged from the rear compartment of a rental truck to make arrests on Wednesday at a Los Angeles Home Depot, part of a migrant enforcement operation that a Homeland Security official labeled “Trojan Horse Operation.”
The early-morning operation near downtown Los Angeles came just days after a federal appeals court upheld a judge’s order barring the Trump administration from carrying out indiscriminate detentions and arrests related to immigration in Southern California.
“For those who believed immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” said acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, posting on X after the raid. “Federal law enforcement is nonnegotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to requests for details about the operation, including how many people were arrested.
Greg Bovino, head of the Border Patrol sector, reposted Fox News coverage on X about the Wednesday arrests, referring to the actions as a “Trojan Horse Operation.”
Images circulating on social media showed the back of the Penske rental truck opening as several uniformed, armed officers stepped out. A Penske Truck Rental spokesman said the company has launched an inquiry into the use of its vehicles by federal authorities, stressing that its policies prohibit transporting individuals in cargo compartments.
“The company was not informed that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize it,” spokesman Randolph P. Ryerson wrote in an email. “Penske will contact DHS and tighten its policy to prevent any future abuse of its vehicles.”
Since June, the Los Angeles region has become a focal point in the White House’s aggressive immigration strategy, triggered protests and the deployment of the National Guard and Marines for more than a month. Federal agents have detained immigrants without legal status in places like Home Depot stores, car washes, bus stops, and farms. Some U.S. citizens have also been detained during these operations.
Lupe Carrasco Cardona, an educator with Union del Barrio, said group members were on routine patrol at a Home Depot on Monday morning when they spotted a Penske truck pulling into the lot, offering jobs to day laborers in the area. Immigrant workers—some with status, others without—often wait in Home Depot parking lots to be hired for various tasks.
“They opened the back, jumped out, and began grabbing people indiscriminately,” Cardona testified.
Soon after, unmarked white vans arrived with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to participate in the operation, Cardona added. The organization has identified three street vendors and four day laborers who were arrested, though they are still trying to account for others. Family members said one vendor tried to demonstrate asylum status before being detained, she added.
Last month, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction against federal agents using racial profiling to conduct indiscriminate arrests after suits filed by the ACLU, Public Counsel, and other advocacy groups. Government lawyers argued the order would impede immigration enforcement, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the order on Friday.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Undersecretary for National Security, has previously said that “enforcement operations are highly targeted.”
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network condemned the Wednesday raid, arguing that the workers targeted by such operations form the backbone of the local economy.
“Today’s raid, carried out by agents wearing cowboy hats who stepped out of a rented van with a TV crew in tow, represents a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s assault on immigrant communities, the courts, and the people of Los Angeles,” said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the organization.
