Day laborers protest noise machines installed at Home Depot
51 comments
·December 21, 2025goda90
Animats
I've noticed that car alarms that go off for no good reason seem to be back. Those used to be a thing, but they'd mostly disappeared. But I keep hearing them in parking lots, with nobody anywhere near the car. At least they shut off after a while. That was legislated back in the 1980s.
Zancarius
Sometimes it can be a genuine mistake.
I was in my garage with my keys in my back pocket, checking the tire pressure on my truck, when it started honking at me. My butt triggered the panic button.
I have acute hearing. That was painful and hardly deliberate!
culi
Not sure if it's the same thing but many stores will put noise emitting machines in their parking lots to make it hostile for people who wanna sleep in their cars there
Once you first notice it you'll realize these machines are kinda everywhere
altairprime
[delayed]
untech
I am confused about the situation. Can someone with more context please explain? Is HomeDepot forcing their own workers off the parking lot? Or are there some other workers there? What do they do on a parking lot? Are they in cars or on foot? Why do they stay on the parking lot the whole day, if they are not HomeDepot employees?
jchw
The operative word is "day laborers". These are people who work on a day-to-day basis. In America at least, there is a large contingent of people who are informal day laborers, especially Hispanic immigrants apparently, although I'm not sure if that's really true or just a stereotype, and a lot of them hang out or around at home improvement stores, waiting to be hired for various handyman-type jobs.
It is frequently referenced in American media, like South Park (in "D-Yikes") and Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead (in "The Day Butt-Head Went Too Far"). And well, probably some other media that isn't adult cartoons, but for some reason that was what first immediately came to mind.
I was aware of the stereotype of Hispanic day laborers hanging out in Home Depot parking lots for a long time, but it was interesting to see the degree to which it seems to be true in California, where I often saw fairly large groups of people that I believed to be day laborers in the parking lot. I'm sure there are also day laborers at home improvement stores in the Midwest too, but I don't really pay that much attention, so I haven't noticed it much.
edit: I see I took too long to reply and now am the sixth or so person to point this out, sorry. Race condition.
wilsonnb3
See season 7, episode 4 (“Sex Ed”) of The Office for a non-cartoon media reference :)
mc32
Japan too has a lot of day laborers too -single men usually without a family support structure or they left their families for reasons. In Japan the day laborers are almost exclusively Japanese as they don't tolerate illegal immigration much.
like_any_other
> I'm not sure if that's really true or just a stereotype
Stereotype Accuracy is One of the Largest and Most Replicable Effects in All of Social Psychology - https://spsp.org/news-center/character-context-blog/stereoty...
In fact, quite shockingly to many, that prevailing twofold sentiment, which sees stereotypical thinking as faulty cognition and stereotypes themselves as patently inaccurate, is itself wrong on both counts. - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-therapy/2018...
Most stereotypes that have been studied have been shown to be approximately correct. Usually, stereotype accuracy correlations exceed .50, making them some of the largest relationships ever found in social psychology. - https://www.cspicenter.com/p/the-accuracy-of-stereotypes-dat...
wkandek
The workers do not work for HomeDepot. They come to the Home Deport parking lot ready to offer their services. People unrelated to HomeDepot will come to the parking lot and offer temporary work, landscaping, construction, etc.
jasode
>Can someone with more context please explain? Is HomeDepot forcing their own workers off the parking lot? Or are there some other workers there?
To help visualize the situation, here's a Google Street View that happens to have a photo of some of the "day laborers" sitting in the parking lot. By spinning that 360 degree view around, you can see that the particular Home Depot has a parking lot that extends underneath a freeway overpass.
The LA Times story is somewhat incomplete because that overpass is also attractive to the homeless parking RVs and building up trash.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Home+Depot/@34.0828085...
bloudermilk
Day laborers are an independent labor force who do construction, landscaping, and other manual work for a negotiated cash rate. In Los Angeles they hang out in public spaces in groups, often near hardware stores, to make themselves easy to find and hire.
phainopepla2
Day laborers at Home Depot are generally undocumented immigrants who hang around in the parking lot hoping to get hired for quick handyman type jobs. This is why they've been a target for ICE raids
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SoftTalker
They are "day laborers." People who hang around there hoping to find work helping with your home repairs, painting, appliance installation, landscaping, or other projects etc.
untech
Huh, and that works? Sounds a bit… old-fashioned? I’d think people are looking for these services online or in some gig work app. Interesting. Sounds unpleasant both for workers that have to hang around on the street, and customers that are approached (at least that’s how I imagine it) by people offering services even when they don’t need it. (Or do customers approach workers themselves?) From the outside, sounds weird. I wonder what in the US caused it.
toast0
> Huh, and that works? Sounds a bit… old-fashioned? I’d think people are looking for these services online or in some gig work app.
You need to go to the home improvement store to get materials for your job anyway, you can also pick up some people to help, too.
Why fuss on an app trying to figure out who to hire, when you can head over, say 'hey, who knows how to dig a foundation' or 'who can help me hang a door' or whatever your job is. Maybe find the worker first and they can help you shop for the stuff you need.
Drive them back to the lot at the end of the job.
phil21
At least at the Home Depot near me, the day laborers sit near the parking lot exits on the boulevard.
I go to Home Depot more than is reasonable, and I’ve never been approached by them. You typically would need to solicit them yourself. In general I find them to be respectful and pleasant - I imagine otherwise they would get customer complaints and Home Depot would have them trespassed immediately.
From others experiences I’ve talked to, they usually form “crews” with one main “crew chief” guy who speaks English you negotiate a rate and number of workers you need, and any specific skills like concrete, framing, etc. beyond simple labor. You generally are expected to provide any tools needed to complete the job beyond what fits in a standard tool belt.
weberer
>I’d think people are looking for these services online or in some gig work app.
Then you'd need to prove your identity and pay taxes on what you earn. This is for illegal immigrants working under the table.
lalaland1125
> wonder what in the US caused it
Lots of illegal immigrants desperate for work
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spqr212
I've been battling noise at the workplace and in my neighborhood for decades. Some useful resources:
Noise Pollution Clearinghouse - https://nonoise.org/
Acoustilog Incorporated - https://acoustilog.com/ Of special note are the legal caveats one must consider to prevail in a lawsuit. (https://acoustilog.com/daniel.html) Consistent documentation is key.
Maine Code of Rules - Control of Noise https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/maine/06-096-C-M-R-c... Note document search terms "tonal" and "one-third octave".
JKCalhoun
Yeah, well I won't be going to Home Despot any longer.
I'd love to know the tech (and company) that provided the devices.
nikkwong
What should Home Depot be doing? They don’t control the administration or the ICE raids. Forcing day laborers off the property ensures less raids happen on the property—I haven’t really understood the boycotts.
mylifeandtimes
They don't have to set up Flock cameras and share the data with people who plan the ICE raids.
Home Depot's hands aren't totally clean here.
Telemakhos
Home Depot put up the cameras to deal with organized crime, both theft and gift-card fraud. Flock specifically advertises that Home Depot put up the cameras to deal with gift card fraud:
> The Home Depot leveraged Flock Safety’s technology to close a case involving a multi-state gift card tampering ring, resulting in fraud and property theft charges exceeding $300,000. This type of success underscores how powerful connected data can be in mitigating fraud risks. [0]
Aside from that, Home Depot has been dealing with massive, multi-state, organized theft campaigns. Earlier this month, NY prosecutors lodged 780 counts of theft against thirteen suspects who stole millions of dollars of merchandise from Home Depot stores in nine states [1].
Not everything is about illegal immigrants.
[0] https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/combating-retail-fraud-with... [1] https://queenseagle.com/all/2025/12/12/retail-theft-ring-tha...
nostrebored
Why not?
It is really no different than having drug dealers set up shop on your corner and sharing footage with police. You have people who are likely committing criminal activity (multiple crimes in the day laborer case) and are sharing footage with the relevant authorities.
The politicization of enforcement doesn’t change that as a business owner I would not want to own the location people facilitate illegal transactions.
viraptor
> What should Home Depot be doing?
Nothing? Why should they do anything?
djoldman
HD doesn't need anything more than asking people to leave their property. These folks generally are on a public sidewalk.
singleshot_
Whatever they should be doing, it mustn't make my ears ring when I go to their store. There is only one way to prevent this: Lowe's.
nroets
Could there be a motif unrelated to ICE ? That Home Depot does not like that day labourers are loitering and approaching customers entering and leaving the store.
cmckn
If they didn’t like it, you’d think they would have done something in the last, I dunno, 30 years?
adgjlsfhk1
if so, you wouldn't expect this to be a new policy
mindslight
Likely because they contrast with many of its own employees' lack of helpfulness, knowledge, or work ethic.
fhdkweig
I don't know if the Home Depot in question is using The Mosquito, but it is a product that has been on the market for about 20 years.
drivebyhooting
I hired day laborers loitering outside HD before and got scammed.
blell
>The immigrant community is here to stay.
Despite what is democratically voted? What is this, a threat?
tremon
I'm not aware of any democratic vote by the Native Americans to allow the Mayflower pilgrims to stay?
AlotOfReading
Home Depot isn't democratically elected, but you should sign up for survivor if you want to vote people out. Functioning democracies don't work that way.
blell
Immigration policy is one of the most important things that are voted on in functioning democracies.
charcircuit
>The noise is in earshot of IDEPSCA’s day laborer center
I find it misleading to add this line in the article without mentioning if the decibels exceed the applicable noise ordinances, or situation this is just people on HD's property complaining about the noise they are making on their own property. In that case people are free not to visit.
tremon
So if it's below the legal limit, people are not allowed to protest and/or complain about it?
charcircuit
It's their property so they should be able to do what they want with it. Stopping people from complaining is impossible. If you were to smash an iPhone someone would complain about how you wasted it or something, but ultimately it's up to the owner on how they want to handle their property.
Two times this week I biked past a parked car and it emitted a horrible high pitched buzzing at me. I'm guessing it's supposed to be an anti-theft mechanism(entirely unnecessary in a Midwest suburb). I of course had no intention of stealing the car, but the noise triggers a desire to do other things to the car. I guess the owner is lucky I'm not an angsty teenager.
There's so much unnecessary noise pollution in our society, it makes me really sad.