Home Depot accused of using “sound machines” against immigrants

• High-pitched noise reported outside Home Depot
• Day laborers say it is meant to drive them away
• Protest demands removal of the machines

Immigrant rights advocates are raising alarms over a high-pitched noise that they claim is coming from machines installed outside a Home Depot store in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles.

Day laborers say the machines were installed to scare them away, amid immigration raids linked to the store.

City officials and advocates gathered earlier this week to protest the alleged noise devices.

Allegations of high-pitched Home Depot sound machines targeting migrants

Anti-loitering speakers have been installed in the parking lot of Home Depot in Cypress Park, following a recent Border Patrol raid. “It’s like a sonic ice pick–just stabbing you,” says audio expert Dustyn Hyatt.

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Advocates say a loud, piercing sound has been emitted for months.

Los Angeles Times reported that the noise may be intended to push journalists away from the area.

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Immigrant rights defenders claim the machines have caused headaches and even nausea.

They are also demanding that Home Depot remove the devices.

What day laborers and advocates are reporting

Immigrant rights advocates warn about a high-pitched noise that they say comes from machines installed outside a Home Depot store in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles. https://t.co/fQoWl7lujN

— ABC7 en Español (@abc7espanol) December 19, 2025

The focus of the complaint is the exterior perimeter of the Home Depot store in Cypress Park.

There, advocates and day laborers allege that devices were installed to emit a high-pitched sound meant to discourage their presence.

The complaint comes in the context of immigration raids linked to Home Depot stores, according to reports.

Protesters maintain that the sound is “loud and penetrating” and that it has continued for months, which they say has affected their health.

This week’s protest brought together city officials and advocates demanding an investigation and the removal of the alleged equipment.

Home Depot’s response to the noise allegations

A Home Depot spokesperson responded to the accusations in a statement to ABC7:

“Home Depot has several initiatives to maintain safety at our stores, including human and technological resources.

This is a single location—we do not have this technology at any other store in the Los Angeles area. We also installed K-gate barriers at this location, as it is essential to maintain distance due to CalTrans infrastructure. Both are intended to deter and prevent illegal overnight parking in the area.”

However, the statement did not directly acknowledge the use of high-pitched sound machines.

ABC7 reporter Madison Weil was outside the Cypress Park store early Friday and said she could not hear any sound coming from the alleged machines.

Context and what’s next

Devices like these have reportedly been used in the past to discourage unhoused people from remaining in specific areas.

Home Depot stores across the country have been the focus of immigration raids, according to reports.

In November, federal agents detained a man at the Cypress Park location.

For this weekend, activists in Hollywood plan to urge customers not to shop at Home Depot, escalating pressure as the debate over the Home Depot sound machines used against immigrants controversy continues.