Day laborers say they are being beaten and targeted outside Home Depot by off-duty Chicago police working security
“When I was in the room, he hit me on the ribs and the chest like four or five times. They grabbed me like I was a doll. He threw me, and I flew, saying, ‘Oh God, what’s going on?’”
Raise the Floor Alliance and the People’s Law Office have filed a federal lawsuit against several off-duty Chicago police officers and employees of the Western Boulevard Home Depot. Latino Union of Chicago and the plaintiffs, five migrant day laborers from Venezuela and Colombia ages 26-45, claim excessive force and conspiracy to violate the laborers’ rights, naming events where they were physical assaulted and racially insulted while being detained for criminal trespassing at this Home Depot.
City public records show the enforcement of trespassing laws has escalated since August 2023—over 16 times in the last five months of the year compared to the previous averages from 2002-2022. Of the trespassing arrests at Western Boulevard Home Depot from August 2023, 85% were individuals of Venezuelan nationality. These numbers are being used to back up claims of selective enforcement of criminal trespassing laws in the city, reflecting “a very specific kind of racist and xenophobic interest.”
Source: City Bureau | Click here for full story.