2 undocumented migrants from Mexico arrested in raid outside Phoenix Home Depot

PHOENIX – Officials confirmed Wednesday that two undocumented migrants from Mexico were arrested during a weekend immigration raid outside a Home Depot in Phoenix.

The arrests came after recent news reports indicated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was planning to ramp up enforcement activity in the Valley.

Fernando X. Burgos, an ICE spokesman, told KTAR News 92.3 FM in an email that Juan Esquivel Moreno and Fernando Molina Mendoza were taken into custody Sunday as part of “a targeted immigration enforcement operation.”

Burgos said Esquivel Moreno had previously been deported at least four times and Molina Mendoza doesn’t have legal status in the U.S.

Both men remain in ICE custody pending deportation.

Details about immigration raid at Home Depot in Phoenix

According to the Phoenix New Times, ICE agents initially detained four people Sunday in the parking lot of the Home Depot at 36th Street and Thomas Road, a spot where day laborers are known to seek work.

Community activist and former state lawmaker Raquel Teran posted a video to social media after attending a protest held outside the Home Depot after the immigration raid. She said the wife of a man identified as “Fernando” attended the protest and discussed his situation.

“She was sharing with us that Fernando is 63 years old, … has been working as a day laborer for 30 years, and she was called by somebody who witnessed him getting arrested, and he was taken to the floor, handcuffed and detained,” Teran recounted in the video.

Burgos encouraged individuals in the U.S. without documentation to self-deport by using the CBP Home app. He said they can get $1,000 and a free flight if they do so.

“We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right, legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return,” he said.

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