Pasadena protesters rally against federal immigration raids outside of Home Depot

PASADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- Demonstrators gathered outside a Home Depot store in Pasadena on Wednesday morning, demanding that immigration raids stop immediately.

Around three dozen demonstrators carried signs that read 'ICE out of Home Depot" outside of store. The rally was peaceful, and they didn't block the store's entrance.

The protesters are angry at the federal raids that have taken place at Home Depot stores across Southern California this month.

As far as the demonstrators are concerned, their message is direct and to the point: stop the raids.

The activists also spoke to day laborers, educating them on their rights.

"As someone who is not at risk at all but has a mixed-status family, I think it's so important to be out here for our community," said Brenda Lopez. "Unfortunately, our community is being... instilled fear. Precisely because of that, they don't know their rights, they don't know they have rights, and so they fear, they hide, when they know we should be the ones to tell them not to do that."

"You know, I come from a family of immigrants. My mom and dad came from Mexico, I came with them at the age of 3, I've been here 70 years, and I never thought I would see what is happening today in this country," Albert Reyes said. "This is something that we heard about, we read about in Germany back in the '30s with the jews being rounded up like this, and this is exactly what is happening to this country. And everybody kept saying, 'Watch out. Watch out.' And a lot of people didn't believe it would happen, but it's happening right in front of our eyes."

A spokesperson with Home Depot sent Eyewitness News the following statement on Wednesday morning:

"We aren't notified that ICE activities are going to happen, and in many cases, we don't know that operations have taken place until after they're over. We're required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate."

Home Depot has reportedly told some SoCal managers that if employees are disturbed by what they've seen in the raids, they can go home with full pay.