Dozens of protesters joined the fight of thousands of workers from the Unite Here Local 11 union who are willing to risk everything and who voted 96% in favor of going on strike a few days before the World Cup and, specifically, the opening match of the United States against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on June 12.

“We want them [ICE agents] to be left out of the World Cup and not have any role in the games,” Angela Sestrich, a member of the union committee of local sections 9 and 11 of Unite Here, told La Opinión, who joined the protest held in the parking lot of The Home Depot in Century Park in Inglewood.

"We want ICE out of Los Angeles. We want ICE out of our entire state. We don't need anyone to tell us how to live," he stressed.

Contract negotiations between FIFA and Legends Global, the stadium's catering operator, have failed to make significant progress on key economic and job security issues. Sestrich explained that the company already has in its possession personal information of thousands of workers, such as social security data.

“We are opposed,” Sestrich stressed. "FIFA already has information and our employer already has all that data. They are the ones who pay us, but FIFA is also trying to get our information to send to third parties in other countries, and we are not sure what they are going to do with that information."

The contractual dispute is not only about the privacy of the cooks, cashiers, concession stand staff and waiters like Sestrich, who would serve the thousands of tourists expected to flock to SoFi Stadium, but also salary. Thousands of them, with more than five years of service, barely earn the minimum wage of $18 an hour.

“We are the ones who do the work,” added the worker. “Our motto at SoFi Stadium is: ‘From the stars to the service of the stars.’ The problem is that we are not treated like stars, but we still want to treat our customers like stars, because they are our customers and our fans; they are the people who come to SoFi Stadium and it is the workers who create that experience.”

Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will play a “key role” in the overall security scheme for the 2026 World Cup.

The agency's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division will be involved in security efforts, although this has sparked widespread controversy, including threats of strikes by stadium workers demanding that ICE stay out of it.

The boycott against The Home Depot continues

Sunday's meeting in Hollywood Park focused on the demands of the Boycott Home Depot Coalition, led by Unión del Barrio, the same group responsible for the continuous patrol and rapid response programs to immigration raids that have been replicated across the United States.

Miriam, a member of Unión del Barrio, announced that among the demands made to The Home Depot, it is required to publicly condemn the ICE raids that have resulted in the “kidnapping” of 700 people throughout the country.

“We demand that they prohibit the access of ICE agents to their properties,” she said, mentioning that in Los Angeles there is a municipal ordinance that requires The Home Depot stores to have centers for day laborers in each of their branches.

“We want them to comply with these regulations, and we ask that they compensate the families of the 700 people who have already been kidnapped in their facilities,” he said. “We also demand that they remove the surveillance ‘Flock’ devices they have installed to read license plates and share that information with the police and the acoustic torture machines they placed in their Cypress Park branch.”

The activist stated that these are devices that emit very high-pitched frequencies in order to torture day laborers to expel them from the parking lots.

Miram recalled that, after a year of raids in Los Angeles, which began on June 6, 2025, the resistance to Donald Trump's administration that took place in Compton, Pasadena and Paramount did not end that day. Therefore, he called on the community to mobilize in each The Home Depot store to protect the community.

“Now ICE has its sights set on SoFi Stadium… There is no reason for immigration agents to intervene at a sporting event; they have no reason to be there.”

Consistently, The Home Depot has denied that it participates in immigration enforcement operations and that it coordinates with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or other federal agencies in this regard.

The company has said federal agents do not need a warrant to enter its parking lots, since the stores are publicly accessible.

"The cameras are used to detect and prevent theft, as well as to protect the safety of our customers and associates. We do not grant access to our license plate readers to federal law enforcement," the company says.

Accuses “the end of our democracy”

With a flag expressing “I love immigrants” on one side and an image of Donald Trump trampling and destroying the Statue of Liberty on the other, John Taylor criticized the president of the United States “for destroying freedom of expression and causing harm to people,” comparing the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to “Trump's private army.”

“At age 13, my mother emigrated from Germany, just after the World War,” the 73-year-old man who attended Sunday's mobilization in Inglewood told La Opinión. “She only spoke German and experienced the brutality of the secret police.”

Taylor compared the past actions of the German Gestapo to the onslaught of masked ICE agents against undocumented immigrants, particularly Latinos.

"That is so undemocratic. Never in our history have we had a president with a private army, and that is what ICE is. Trump has been funded a private army, and he answers only to it," said Mr. Taylor.

"There are no checks and balances. Congress and the Supreme Court are doing nothing. They've given you an army with billions and billions of dollars. If we don't get rid of this, it's the end of our democracy."