A day laborer waits for a potential employer outside a Home Depot in Queens. (Credit: Alonso Vidal)
Outside a Home Depot in Queens on a recent morning, day laborers called out each others’ names from afar as they trickled by and populated the outskirts of the store. Some cheered when they recognized fellow workers arriving from nearby bus or train stations. On any given day, there can be as many as 15 or 20 of them.
They formed moving circles and talked about their day-to-day lives, compared work experiences, and reminisced about their home countries while they waited for employers to arrive.
Then, they watched as a helicopter hovered above. Many ran across the sidewalk and shielded under a roof. Tankamash, an Ecuadorian day laborer, stayed in line with a few others, watching. They’re afraid, he said.
“They think it’s immigration.” (He, like other workers interviewed for this story, asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about his status.)
Over the past few months, Home Depot has become a central stage of immigration arrests throughout the country. In New York City, the most visible Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests have occurred after immigrants attended hearings at Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Being detained at work, however, has become a consuming fear among undocumented workers.
“We have a federal government who is quite literally attacking the immigrant community,” said Alexa Avilés, New York City Council member and chair of the Committee on Immigration.
But it’s critical that day laborers find work, and many depend on places like Home Depot to support their families, said Nadia Marin-Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), an alliance of day laborer organizations.
“They have to choose between being able to find a job that will help sustain themselves and their family, or the possibility of getting arrested, detained and deported,” Marin-Molina said.
A day laborer leans on the Home Depot wall.(Credit: Alonso Vidal)
Paulo left his family in his native Ecuador to come to the United States two and a half years ago, to support them financially.
The first thing he did in Queens was visit the Home Depot, commonly referred to by day laborers as “la parada” — the stop, in Spanish.
Ten days after arriving, he was hired to help build a three-story building. That job lasted a year. Now, he is back where he started. But these days, the hours spent waiting outside Home Depot have increased, while the chances of getting hired have decreased, he said. He attributes that to ICE. Some laborers said that employers are more hesitant about the repercussions of hiring undocumented workers.
“There’s no work here,” he said. “With immigration around, it’s going downhill. Two years ago, the jobs were good. Now there’s nothing. It’s dead.”
More hours, less pay
Less than a month ago, Daliquema said that he was a victim of wage theft. He had worked with the same employers before, which made him feel safe. But that didn’t stop them from not paying him a week’s worth of wages for construction work: $800 — more than half of what he pays for a month’s rent.
Even before President Donald Trump’s second term began, wage theft and poor health and safety conditions were common risks among construction day workers. Now, the fear of detention has made them more vulnerable to exploitation. Many laborers in the Queens parada said they have been victims of wage theft. Some said they have sued; others never did, due to fear of legal repercussions or lack of resources.
“Employers are threatening workers and saying, ‘If you don’t like it, I can call Immigration,’” said Marin-Molina.
Daquilema hasn’t filed a lawsuit. He said he has heard that it takes too much time, time he needs to work to pay his bills.
Last year, Daquilema hired a coyote — someone who smuggles people across the border — to get his wife and son into the U.S. Recently, the reunited couple welcomed their newborn daughter into their home in Queens.
Working from Monday to Friday is not enough to pay the bills, Daquilema said. His wife can’t work because she has to take care of their children, leaving him as the only source of income.
In addition to his family’s living costs, he said he has to send money to his mother in Ecuador and repay a $31,000 debt to the coyote, which he was only able to afford with a loan. “If I had gone back to my country, maybe I would have died, since I have so much debt,” he said.
Working in fear
Among the dozen laborers interviewed by Columbia News Service, five said they know someone who had been deported this year. In New York City, immigration agents have arrested at least 2,365 immigrants between late January and the end of June. Ecuadorians accounted for 23% of the arrested, while eight of the nine other top countries of origin are in Latin America.
A day laborer stands in line outside a Home Depot, ready to work.(Credit: Alonso Vidal)
Daquilema said that in the past, he would’ve considered working outside the city because it pays more. But not now. Recently, he said, he heard that some construction workers in upstate New York were detained during their lunch break at work.
He wonders what would happen to his family if he were to be deported. “Who would like their wife left suffering with two kids?” he said.
Leaning against a cement wall, one of the day laborers asked Daniel, an Ecuadorian day laborer, “Would you go back to Ecuador?”
“I’ll never leave,” he answered with confidence. But, after a pause, his voice lowered. “I’m afraid if I go back, they’ll put me in prison.”
Daniel arrived in the U.S. last year with his father. At the Mexico border, they turned themselves in to U.S. Customs and were granted refugee status.
Three months ago, his father was detained by ICE after a court hearing, Daniel said. He was held for 15 days at Federal Plaza and then sent to a detention center in Texas, where he remained for three months before being deported to Ecuador. They talk every day by phone. He is now working as a taxi driver.
“I’m sad,” said Daniel, tears forming around his eyes. “He was my only family here.”
Another day laborer said he already has a plane ticket back to Veracruz, Mexico, for November. It’s been 18 years since he left. His wages and working conditions have worsened, particularly under the current administration. “You can’t live here anymore,” he said.
Earlier in September, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to lift a restraining order that a federal district judge in California had issued last July after immigration agents were accused of profiling and stopping people only because of their race, language, job, and location.
“If this administration feels like they can do what they want, and a court is backing them up, it’s going to have a negative effect on immigrant communities across the country,” said Avilés.
Next to the Queens Home Depot, the day laborers waited. Every once in a while, their eyes escaped from their phones to look for a possible employer. A security officer shouted at them to keep their distance. They moved and let their eyes return to their phones.
About the author(s)
Alonso Vidal covers immigration and is a Stabile Investigative Fellow.