FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 28, 2005

Shoppers Beware: Home Depot Takes Customer to Trial

Trial Set for January 11th at Maywood Circuit Court

Cicero, IL: When Raul Sandoval, a remodeling sub-contractor and long-time client of Home Depot, was arrested in the Cicero store parking lot in June, he was sure that misunderstandings would soon be cleared up and he’d go on with his life. However, Sandoval and others appeared before state prosecutors for the fourth time on October 26th and are now scheduled to go to trial facing charges of criminal trespassing.

Sandoval and six other Latino men are set for trial on January 11th. The group was the first in a series of arrests the Cicero Home Depot incited, attempting to end the decade-long practice in which workers meet with employers in the store parking lot. Since June, over forty Latino men have been arrested but the court repeatedly threw out their cases due to inadequate representation on Home Depot’s behalf. Of the original forty, only Sandoval and his fellow arrestees still face charges.

“I arrived at the store to buy building supplies for a job and the police took me away in handcuffs before I could even cross the parking lot,” explains Sandoval. “What crime did I commit? Why do I need to come to court when they should be the ones on trial?”

Sandoval was confused for one of the Latino workers waiting for employers in the parking lot. Since the Home Depot location in Cicero is patronized primarily by area residents who are predominantly of Mexican and Central American descent, worker advocates raise questions as to how the Home Depot and the Cicero Police Department could honesty differentiate between the workers and the store customers who also employ them.

Jessica Aranda, executive director of the Latino Union of Chicago, states, “We would have thought that after this egregious error Home Depot made involving one of their own customers, the company would want to sit down to look for ways to resolve the situation. After five months, they’ve refused to enter into any sort of dialogue. If that wasn’t bad enough, they continue to press charges.”

The seven men facing trial are represented by attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild, their trial set to begin at the Maywood Court house on January 11th at 9:00am.

Meanwhile, workers who congregate at the Home Depot question the store’s motives. “What does Home Depot gain from demanding that working people are prosecuted? We’re workers trying to provide for our families but these charges force us to miss work and lose wages. Do they want to see us homeless?” asks Donald Quintanilla, a worker from Nicaragua. “I worry about us, but also other Latino customers. Will they be arrested as well? Is it safe for our people to shop at Home Depot or will we all be treated like criminals?”

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