A rapid response volunteer was allegedly assaulted by an unidentified man in the Signal Hill Home Depot parking lot Tuesday morning. While the Signal Hill Police Department said they are conducting an investigation into the incident, it highlights an issue volunteers have been raising for months: How is Signal Hill responding to attacks on its immigrant community? 

Margaret, who is using an alias due to safety concerns, has been a rapid response volunteer since June, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents ramped up their operations in Long Beach and Signal Hill, with more frequent and aggressive raids. Since then, she has met other local residents who were moved to protect their immigrant neighbors, standing with day laborers at the Home Depot and mobilizing to assist families when reports of detainments reach them. 

ICE agents are photographed conducting a raid at the Signal Hill Home Depot on Spring Street on June 26, 2025. Masked and heavily armed ICE agents have detained at least 15 people since June 2025 at Signal Hill’s two Home Depot locations. (Courtesy of LB ICE Net)

The group of residents, not led by any organization or particular person, has also helped connect families to immigration lawyers and visited Long Beach residents detained in the Adelanto Detention Center. They’ve forged relationships with local businesses and neighborhoods that have been targeted often by ICE, doing anything from handing out toilet paper to getting firsthand reports of ICE raids. 

“These people need a voice and I’m willing to speak up,” Margaret told the Signal Tribune, adding it’s the first time she’s been assaulted by a random person while being a rapid response volunteer. “This definitely makes me want to be there and want to show up more.” 

Margaret said a man in a red truck was driving “erratically” around the Home Depot parking lot around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, so she attempted to walk up to the car and talk to him. After Margaret was ignored several times by the unidentified man, she took a picture of him in his vehicle, capturing his face and license plate. That’s when the man drove his truck directly towards her, traveling an estimated 30 miles per hour at her, Margaret told the Signal Tribune. 

Margaret didn’t flinch, she said, so the man swerved his car to avoid hitting her. Then he pulled up next to her, rolled down his window and “bashed” her hands down, making her drop her phone and coffee, before speeding off. 

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The Signal Hill Police Department said they are actively investigating the incident and have requested video footage. After searching the license plate number, they confirmed the car was a rental. As of Jan. 8, SHPD said they have no updates on the incident. 

Margaret said her finger is bruised but she did not require medical attention. Margaret and another rapid responder she was with said they had never seen the vehicle or man before. 

A photo taken by rapid responders and amplified on ÓRALE’s social media, showing a man detained by masked federal immigration agents on Oct. 20, 2025 from the Home Depot parking lot off of Cherry Avenue in Signal Hill. At least four ICE raids have occurred at this location since June. (Courtesy of ÓRALE)

Signal Hill’s Home Depots among most frequented ICE targets in the area

The two Signal Hill Home Depots have been the most consistently targeted areas for ICE raids during the past seven months. According to ICE in LB, an independent tracking website that uses public data to record ICE sightings and detainments, there have been seven detainments between the Home Depot on Spring Street and the one on Cherry Avenue.

According to rapid responders, around 15 people have been arrested by ICE at these locations, as agents show up to the Home Depots at least once a month. 

Signal Hill City Manager Carlo Tomaino said in an email to the Signal Tribune “immigration enforcement is a function of the federal government. Local governments, including cities and counties, do not have authority over federal, state, or county agencies. By law, local jurisdictions cannot enact ordinances or establish policies that regulate or interfere with the operations of another level of government.

Within this framework, the City and the Signal Hill Police Department remain fully committed to maintaining the safety, trust, and well-being of all individuals in our community.” 

Tomaino added that the City and the police “do not participate in or coordinate with federal immigration enforcement activities,” and since the federal government “does not share information with the City” he said they do not have information regarding how many people have been detained by ICE in the city. A “small number of residents” have contacted the City requesting assistance with immigration matters, Tomaino said.

The Signal Hill City Hall building on Jan. 13, 2022. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)

Dozens of rapid responders, all of whom have independently shown up at the Home Depot over the last few months, have also been attending Signal Hill City Council meetings asking the City to do more to protect the immigrant community. Oftentimes they are joined by the families of those who have been detained and deported by ICE. 

Activists, rapid responders and family members of detainees say the City has done nothing to protect its immigrants. 

“Signal Hill is even worse than Long Beach,” a rapid responder using the alias Celeste said. “It’s really sad that our leaders don’t even consider them [immigrants] worthy of protection.” 

“Under my direction and that of our Chief of Police, the City and the Police Department’s role is to protect all members of the public, regardless of national origin or immigration status,” Tomaino said in an email. “The City provides helpful resources for those seeking assistance related to their immigration status and will continue to do so.

Community demands greater protections, while City remains largely silent

Unlike Long Beach, Signal Hill is not a sanctuary city. Though every city in California must follow the California Values Act, many jurisdictions have added additional policies specific to their community and agency, including Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and more. 

Signal Hill’s public facing social media profiles and monthly newsletters have not once mentioned the ICE raids or amplified any resources available to local immigrants. On June 26, 2025, the City released a statement stating they have “no role in the enforcement of federal law” but they would continue to provide a “high-quality level of service.” The City has a link to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles on its resources page, which Tomaino said has been advertised to the community.

Federal agents detain a man at the Signal Hill Home Depot on Cherry Avenue on Sept. 22, 2025. (Courtesy of ÓRALE)

In city council meetings, former now-councilmember Mayor Keir Jones has told residents they can look him up to see what he’s done to help. Jones has also gotten into a few back-and-forth squabbles with residents at meetings who are asking the city to take actions against ICE. 

“My family and I have been residents of Signal Hill for over 30 years,” said Sheila Estrada at a city council meeting on Oct. 28, 2025. “My father operates a business out of the city, I went to Signal Hill Elementary and my nephews go to Signal Hill Elementary now. I’m here as a member of this community to ask for you to step up and support your community and against the federal agents who are kidnapping people … I’m asking you to be on the right side of history; open a dialogue. We need to get this going.”

When asked if the City has discussed enacting sanctuary city policies, Tomaino referred the Signal Tribune to SB 54, the California Values Act.

“I know you may not be able to change what’s happening around the country but I would hope that you all took the current positions you hold to make our community here better today,” said Long Beach resident Anna Espinoza at the Oct. 28 city council meeting.

She said her father was a day laborer and was detained by ICE at the Home Depot in Signal Hill. At the time of the meeting, Espinoza said her father was being held in the Adelanto Detention Center.  

“My mother spends every night crying, worried about my father … He hasn’t been home to joke with me. My daughter still looks for her ‘tata’ [grandfather] and my mother waits for news from him. My family feels betrayed by the city and the people in charge of protecting us,” Espinoza said. 

Rapid response volunteers and families of those taken by ICE have been asking Signal Hill to adopt sanctuary city laws that would prohibit the police department from cooperating with ICE unless directed by a federal judge. 

Additional policies community members have asked the City to adopt include: 

Publicly enforced no-ICE-zones

An ICE raid tracking system run by the City

Officials’ vocal support of the city’s immigrants

“It’s getting harder to deal with on an emotional and psychological level … and of course our safety. It’s getting scary,” Celeste said. “I think about them [the immigrants taken by ICE] everyday.”