Fox Business
April 21, 2024
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/security-guards-patrolling-ny-home-depot-deter-thieves-aggressive-migrants-report
A Home Depot in a New York City suburb has hired security guards to deter aggressive migrants from harassing shoppers and thieves from breaking into cars, according to a report.
Two guards wearing MSA Security caps leading a German shepherd were seen patrolling the store’s parking lot in New Rochelle on Tuesday, the New York Post reported. One guard told the Post that the firm was contracted a few weeks ago for several reasons.
“It’s not just because of [migrants] but because of a myriad of other things, too, like people breaking into cars, that kind of stuff,” he told the outlet.
The Post reported that as the guards patrolled the parking lot, the scene was quiet and no migrants were seen loitering. Meanwhile, the newspaper said that when it visited another Home Depot just seven miles away in the Bronx, more than two dozen migrants were seen hanging around outside the store.
Customers at the Bronx store told the Post that while some migrants were day laborers looking for work, some approached customers to sell items, such as bootleg Apple Airpods.
Others follow customers and try to lift items out of carts to help load them into cars in the hopes of a tip, another customer told the outlet.
A man who told the Post that he was a migrant from Senegal said he can make up to $300 a day by charging $10 to help push carts for shoppers and to load items into their cars.
But one customer told the Post how she had to pull out pepper spray when a migrant refused to back off when her husband told him that they didn’t need his help.
“I get it, you’re trying to make a buck,” she said. “But when it becomes aggressive and harassing, there’s a major issue.”
A Home Depot spokesperson told Fox Business Digital that it has a non-solicitation policy at its stores.
“The safety of our associates and customers is our top priority, and we prohibit people from loitering,” the spokesperson said. “While we can’t go into specifics about our security measures, it’s not unusual for us to use third-party security at various stores across the country.”