A New York Home Depot has hired security guards and guard dogs to protect shoppers from harassment and robberies by illegal immigrants.
Just north of Bronx, outside New York’s borders, a Home Depot store has employed two security guards with bulletproof vests, wearing MSA Security caps and dogs in its parking lot, according to photos and reports from the New York Post.
Illegal border-crossers are trying to earn money by pushing people’s carts to their cars and putting items in the car, but some customers complain of aggressive behavior and robberies.
“It’s more about omnipresence. It’s not like we let them go bite anyone or anything,” one guard told the New York Post, adding that he was hired for multiple reasons.
“It’s not just because of [illegal immigrants], but because of a myriad of other things too, like people breaking into cars, that kind of stuff,” he said.
The guarded New Rochelle lot was quiet, and no illegal immigrants were around on Tuesday.
However, in Throggs Neck in the Bronx, at least 30 people were waiting outside a Home Depot’s doors.
Some were laborers trying to find work with local contractors who may visit the store.
Others, however, were aggressively trying to sell fake airpods to customers or to solicit tips from helping with pushing carts and lifting items to cars.
Home Depot customers interviewed by the New York Post said some illegal immigrants were even touching their items or insisting on pushing the cart even when being rejected.
“And when they are following you to the car, it’s unnerving,” a woman employee said.
She said that illegal immigrants robbed customers’ phones and purses, with the victims calling customer service to complain.
She has seen the number of grifters in the lot increase along with the number of illegal immigrants in New York.
After a harassment incident, a customer called Home Depot’s Atlanta headquarters to complain, but it was a regional manager who told her they were going to bring security guards with dogs to two Bronx stores as well.
An illegal immigrant said to the New York Post that he is charging $10 for pushing carts or lifting items, and he makes $300 per day.
Home Depot corporate spokeswoman Margaret Smith said the company prohibits loitering and solicitation at its stores and regularly works with law enforcement. She would not say if the Bronx stores will add security, including dogs.
“While we can’t go into specifics about our security measures,” she said, “it’s not unusual for us to use third-party security at various stores across the country.”
New York, the most populous city in the United States, has struggled to contend with the arrival of over 120,000 illegal immigrants in the past year.
A Sienna College poll published last year shows that more than 80 percent of registered voters in New York view the recent influx of illegal immigrants as a “serious problem.”
Meanwhile, about 51 percent of New Yorkers said they disapprove of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts in handling the influx.
Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said it was the first time in one of the college’s polls that New Yorkers disapprove of President Joe Biden in a majority.
According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the border patrol had only encountered 458,088 illegal immigrants attempting to cross the Southwest border in fiscal 2020 during the Trump administration.
This jumped to 1.73 million in fiscal 2021 under President Biden and then to 2.38 million in fiscal 2022. During the first six months of fiscal year 2023, there have already been 1.22 million encounters.
NTD reached out to Home Depot for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.
