People are boycotting Home Depot mainly over allegations that the company is linked to aggressive immigration enforcement at its stores and that it has pulled back on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments, which some see as aligning with Donald Trump’s agenda and broader anti-immigrant, anti- DEI policies.

Main reasons for the boycott

  • Alleged cooperation with ICE raids : Activists and community groups accuse Home Depot of allowing or not meaningfully resisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in and around its parking lots, where many day laborers and immigrant workers seek jobs.
  • Treatment of day laborers : Organizers say day laborers outside some stores have been harassed by security, threatened with arrests, and exposed to increased surveillance, including license-plate readers, while ICE reportedly uses these locations as convenient roundup spots.
  • Backlash over DEI rollback : Home Depot has been linked in broader campaigns that target large retailers accused of quietly scaling back or erasing DEI language and programs, which critics say is “caving” to political pressure and undermining previous equity commitments.
  • Association with Trump-era policies : Some boycott organizers frame Home Depot as part of a network of big corporations that, in their view, cooperate with or benefit from Trump’s policies, including tougher immigration enforcement and economic measures they argue hurt working-class and marginalized communities.

How the boycott is being organized

  • National campaigns : Groups such as Black Voters Matter and coalitions of immigrant-rights and labor organizations have folded Home Depot into larger “don’t shop” lists that also include retailers like Target, Amazon, Walmart, and Starbucks, urging people to shift spending to smaller, local businesses instead.
  • Timed protests and actions : Activists have staged demonstrations at stores, especially in Southern California, and timed campaigns around high-traffic shopping periods like Black Friday and the holiday season to maximize economic and media impact.
  • Online and forum discussions : On social platforms and forums, some users say they will no longer shop at Home Depot and are switching to competitors (like Lowe’s) specifically because of perceived support for Trump and the immigration raids, while others mock or dismiss the boycott as symbolic or ineffective.

Supporters’ and critics’ viewpoints

  • Supporters of the boycott say :
    • The aim is to “stop funding systems that don’t serve us” and to pressure a powerful corporation to take a public stand against immigration raids, improve protections for day laborers, and recommit to DEI.
* Economic pressure is one of the few tools communities have to challenge both government overreach and corporate complicity in harmful policies.
  • Critics of the boycott argue :
    • Individual boycotts will not significantly dent a retailer as large as Home Depot and mostly serve as political symbolism.
* Some customers and employees say that, from their perspective, the company still looks diverse and inclusive on the ground, and they question or downplay the allegations about cooperation with ICE.

What organizers are demanding

  • Public denouncement of ICE raids at or around Home Depot locations.
  • Clear steps to prevent immigration enforcement from using store property and parking lots as routine raid sites.
  • Safer, explicitly protected spaces and agreements for day laborers, plus compensation or support for families harmed by past raids.
  • Transparent, sustained commitments to DEI and to policies that do not, in organizers’ view, reinforce discrimination or economic inequality.

TL;DR: People are boycotting Home Depot because activists, civil-rights groups, and some customers believe the company is enabling or tolerating immigration raids targeting day laborers at its stores and quietly moving away from DEI commitments, which they see as aligning with Trump-era anti-immigrant and anti-equity politics.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.