Video showed federal agents arriving in a van and a moving truck carry out an immigration enforcement operation Wednesday morning at a Home Depot near downtown Los Angeles just days after a key court ruling on tactics used in the raids.
Details about the operation at the home improvement store on Wilshire Boulevard in the Westlake area were not immediately available. The location is a few blocks east of MacArthur Park, where the presence of federal agents last month was met by protests and drew criticism from Mayor Karen Bass.
Video shared Tuesday morning by witnesses showed U.S. Border Patrol agents appearing to take people into custody outside the Home Depot. Video from NewsChopper4 showed several vendors set up at the location and at least one white van, similar to vans present at other Los Angeles immigration enforcement operations, and a yellow Penske moving truck in a parking lot.
In a post captioned Operation Trojan Horse on X, USBP Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino shared video that appeared to show agents in tactical gear emerging from the back of the truck in a parking lot.
A witness told NBCLA he saw more than a dozen agents at the scene, where day laborers gather and vendors sell food. The agents left the area west of downtown Los Angeles later Wednesday morning.
In a post on X, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli included video of an agent appearing to take two people into custody outside the store.
“For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” Essayli said in the post. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
NBCLA has reached out to federal authorities for more information.
Penske Trucking Company released a statement, saying it was not made aware its trucks were being used in the federal operation.
“Penske Truck Rental is aware of recent reports and videos regarding a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operation in Los Angeles,” the company said in its statement. “Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances. The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.”
Other federal operations since early June have been carried out at other Home Depot stores, car washes and various businesses in Southern California. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to NBC4 that federal agents arrested more than three dozen people during an operation in June targeting multiple Home Depot stores in LA County. A total of 37 people were arrested by CBP agents at three different locations on June 30, according to a DHS spokesperson.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling Friday to maintain the temporary restraining order, granted by a federal judge, over how the federal government conducts immigration enforcement operations in SoCal. Darsha Philips reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2025.
Tuesday’s operation came just days after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling to maintain the temporary restraining order, granted by a federal judge, over how the federal government conducts immigration enforcement operations in Southern California. A Trump administration attorney presented the government’s case to a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco for a stay, pending appeal of the temporary restraining order.
The appeals court denied the motion Friday.
The ruling affirms the order issued July 11 that granted the restraining order requested by immigrant advocates to restrict federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California.Judge Maame E. Frimpong’s order barred the detention of people unless the officer or agent “has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.”
Loyola law school Prof. Jessica Levinson said the ruling places added scrutiny on the raids.
“What we have to look at here is whether or not the… agents have violated the temporary restraining order,” Levinson said. “We know that a District Court judge in Los Angeles said that ICE agents can’t rely on what they’ve been relying on to give rise to a reasonable suspicion to detain people.
“What Judge Frimpong said in the temporary restraining order is that ICE agents can’t rely on four criteria either alone or together. That is, essentially, ethnicity or the color of your skin; the language you’re speaking or whether you’re speaking with an accent; where you are or what you’re doing. The question for us this morning is whether or not the agents can come forward and say, ‘I have additional evidence that the people who were detained were breaking the law outside of the criteria that Judge Frimpong has said we cannot rely on.'”
The recent immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California are part of President Trump’s campaign promise to carry out a mass deportation plan. The administration has highlighted arrests involving undocumented individuals with violent crime convictions. Those who have been caught up in the nationwide raids include asylum seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court.
Through July 17, nearly 56,600 migrants had been taken into ICE detention since the start of President Trump’s second term, according NBC News, which used ICE data both public and internal as well as data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
About 29% of those in detention had criminal convictions; 24.7% had pending criminal charges; 46.8% were listed as “other immigration violator;” and 11.9% were fast-tracked for deportation.