Community Rallies in Support of Day Laborers

at Home Depot, Cypress Park

February 6, 2026

1 min read

PWC joined community members, labor advocates, and elected officials in a press conference initiated by Assemblymember Jessica Caloza, L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and IDEPSCA Executive Director Maegan Ortiz, in support of day laborers at the Home Depot in Cypress Park, Los Angeles, on February 6, 2026. The community action was a response to Home Depot’s intent to evict the local day laborers' center, Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), a sister organization of PWC.

IDEPSCA has long operated on the Home Depot Cypress Park property, which is leased by Caltrans. The intention to evict IDEPSCA from the property is a direct attack on day laborers and immigrant communities in the wake of recent unlawful arrests, abductions, and violence by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Among the speakers were PWC’s Executive Director, Aquilina Soriano Versoza, Councilmember Eunisses Hernadez (LA City First District 1), and Assemblymember Jessica Caloza (CA 52nd District), who all emphasized the importance of protecting workers’ rights and ensuring safe public spaces for all community members.

“All of us are under attack. All of our economy is being attacked. We need to value, we need to protect, we need to stand by all of our workers, and protect their home at the day laborer center,” said Versoza. 

Councilmember Eunisses Hernadez added, "As immigrant families live under the constant threat of ICE terror, Home Depot has chosen to displace a center that provides safety, resources, and basic human dignity to day laborers," Hernandez said in a statement. "Los Angeles will not stand by while billion-dollar corporations profit off our communities while discarding the very workers who make them rich."

“For decades, IDEPSCA and other organizations have met with Home Depot, have tried to have communication and meetings to figure out how we can co-exist, and Home Depot consistently has come up by using rhetoric that criminalizes workers and dismisses the role of community organizations in economic and human development,” said Maegan Ortiz, executive director of IDEPSCA.

The press conference concluded with a call for continued vigilance and solidarity, as advocates reaffirmed their commitment to protecting the dignity and safety of day laborers in Cypress Park and across Los Angeles.

“It’s important for us to actually speak up for each other and to come together,” Aquilina Soriano Versoza said. “The targeting of immigrants is not just about one organization, and it’s not just about one industry or one community. It really impacts all of us.”