In between offering their services to motorists, Sadot Garnica and another man marveled at how few day laborers like themselves were soliciting work at a Home Depot parking lot in Van Nuys one recent morning.

Garnica, a U.S. citizen who lives out of an old van, and Saul, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, agreed that some workers were probably staying away from the site after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 161 people in a Southern California operation earlier this month, sparking fear among many who do not have legal status.

“Yes, I’m afraid, but I need to work,” said Saul, who is 28 and declined to give his last name. “I need money to pay my bills.”

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Day laborers, who offer their services as painters, roofers, builders, tile workers and movers near home improvement stores and intersections across the region, are some of the most visible immigrants in society. Because many are undocumented, activists say that makes them an “easy target” for federal immigration officers, particularly under the administration of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions living in the country illegally.

“Day laborers are the most vulnerable in our community right now because they congregate in (street) corners; they’re looking for jobs,” said Javier Fernandez, director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. “They’ve become more vulnerable to these types of raids.”

ICE response

But Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with ICE, stressed that her agency “does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately.”

ICE’s weeklong operation, which was part of a series of raids netting more than 680 immigrants nationally, targeted “public safety threats” in six Southern California counties starting Feb. 6, authorities said. Ninety-four percent of those arrested in the region had criminal convictions ranging from identity theft to drug trafficking and sexual assault.

According to Kice, the majority of arrests made by ICE Fugitive Operations officers occur at or near the homes of their targets, not day labor centers.

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As for the Border Patrol, which falls under U.S. Customs and Border Protection, most of their work is “performed in the immediate border area,” the agency said in a statement. However, they noted that they’re granted “broad law enforcement authorities,” including authority to question individuals, make arrests and take and consider evidence anywhere in the country.

“It’s a myth that we’re here terrorizing people at Home Depots” and in Los Angeles neighborhoods, said a Customs and Border Protection source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There have been incidents in the past, but we’re focused on our primary mission, which is protecting the border.”

Reasons behind the fear

Fueling the unease are Trump’s repeated vows to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Just days after taking office, he signed a sweeping executive order that allows most undocumented immigrants to be prioritized for deportation.

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There’s also “general insecurity” in the community after ICE arrested some immigrants who had been convicted of lower level crimes, such as using an improper Social Security number, rather than more serious ones, said Manuel Pastor, director of USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.

According to Pastor, there is overall uncertainty about the community’s fate, which has many immigrants on edge.

“One of the things that all of us have become more careful about is predicting what Trump and the Trump administration will do,” Pastor said. “It’s both much worse than anyone thought and much weirder than anyone thought.”

Community support

At a pickup site for day laborers in Signal Hill, workers said through a translator that they were not afraid of being targeted by immigration authorities, with some citing support from the city and its police department.

A decade ago, community activists worked with officials to set up an area — outfitted with two portable toilets and a shaded structure — where day laborers meet each morning. The workers gather around 7 a.m. in the back of a Home Depot parking lot where a man, paid by the city, manages the workers using a lottery-like system, according to Jose A. Hernandez, who manages the site.

Benjamin Wood of the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, which operates the Pomona Day Labor Center, said most of the workers at that community’s city-designated center are regularly instructed on their rights and know they have access to legal resources. They even do role-playing exercises so they know what to do or say when approached by a federal officer or agent, he said.

“I think the mood at the center is probably a lot less on edge than the rest of the community that is not as well-informed and is really in a state of panic, especially when they hear rumors about ICE being in the area,” Wood said. The center also has regular contact with workers at three other informal hiring sites in Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside and San Bernardino, which Wood believes are “more vulnerable to things like Border Patrol” arrests, as have happened in the past.

Local civil rights activists said they don’t know of any recent arrests by immigration authorities at day labor centers. However, a man reported to the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice that he was stopped on Feb. 2 by someone he suspects was an ICE officer after returning from an errand at a Home Depot in San Bernardino a few miles from the store, said Daniel Guzman, the coalition’s legal resources director. The suspected officer, who was in one of several unmarked cars in the area with internal flashing lights, asked for the motorist’s documentation in Spanish. When the driver produced his green card, the officer threw it back into the car and walked off, Guzman said. Kice did not confirm whether this was in fact an ICE stop but said in an email that the agency on occasion “may conduct a vehicle stop if the target or targets we’re seeking to locate are believed to be in the vehicle.” She added that “targeted arrests” happen on a near daily basis.

But she also cautioned that the agency has received reports — both locally and around the country — of possible encounters with “imposter” ICE officers. She urged those stopped by someone purporting to be a federal immigration officer to “respectfully request” to see the person’s badge and credentials.

Meanwhile, in another area of the Home Depot parking lot in Van Nuys, Luis Juarez waited patiently for work on Tuesday morning as he’s done many other days.

Juarez, who was raised by his grandparents in Mexico, first came to the U.S. as a 14-year old migrant in search of an education and a better life.

“People are talking about what they’re going to do if (immigration authorities) come here,” the 28-year-old said in Spanish. “I would start running. What more can I do?”

But if he’s deported to Mexico, his dream would not necessarily end, he explained.

“I would try to return here later,” he said.

Staff writer Courtney Tompkins contributed to this report.