Several SUVs rolled into the parking lot of a Home Depot in west Phoenix.
The people in the SUVS were not there to shop. They were U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting a secretive undercover operation to find customers in the country illegally.
It was around 10 a.m. on Jan. 29. The agents sat in their vehicles in the parking lot, punching the license plates into computers and then running the owners' names to see if they showed up in any immigration databases.
They were looking for people who previously had been ordered deported or had other immigration violations. Then the agents swooped into action.
The little-known tactic of staking out Home Depot parking lots, which has happened with increasing frequency during the Trump
administration's mass deportation campaign in Phoenix and other cities, was revealed in a federal courtroom in Phoenix during the criminal trial of a man who was arrested for assaulting one of the agents attempting to detain his father.
A jury found the man, Isaac Luis-Azamar, not guilty on July 16.
Immigrant advocates have widely criticized the tactics, but according to immigration and civil-rights attorneys interviewed by The Arizona Republic, the tactics are not illegal. But they raise numerous concerns, including that federal agents are devoting resources to go after ordinary workers rather than dangerous criminals.
“You almost feel that there could be better resources used for people who are actually committing crimes versus just driving down the road, just running people's plates randomly,” said Benjamin Taylor, a civil-rights attorney based in Arizona.
The testimony also came as the Trump administration overturned a July 14 ICE memo that ordered its officers to scale back traffic stops after a backlash when two immigrants were killed during traffic stops and as a growing number of Americans felt compelled to carry citizenship documents after a Supreme Court ruling in September 2025.
The Supreme Court decision gave the green light to federal immigration enforcement authorities to use factors such as a person's race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, their type of work and presence in a particular location to stop and question them.
Fernando Burgos, an ICE spokesperson, said in a brief written statement that ICE does not “disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics or capabilities details. We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”
Why was ICE looking for vehicles with roof racks?
ICE Officers Todd Glunt, Justin McNeil, Shawn Peckrol and Brandon Lee Easton started their Jan. 29 shift in the early morning around 5 when it was still dark, according to their testimonies. They were a part of a "Mobile Criminal Apprehension Team" tasked with finding and detaining people who were in the country illegally, Easton said.
After conducting a targeted immigration enforcement operation earlier in their shift, the officers discreetly rolled into the Home Depot on 43rd Avenue and Camelback Road around 10 a.m. They parked their unmarked SUVs far from the entrance, according to Peckrol and Easton's testimonies, to keep the vehicles from getting scratched.
They went to the Home Depot to run the plates of vehicles they suspected of belonging to undocumented people, Peckrol said under questioning from a government attorney. That included vehicles with roof racks, expired tags and temporary license plates, he said.
Officers hid their vehicles so they could not be identified as law enforcement by day laborers and customers who patronize the store, Easton said under questioning from Debbie Jang, the public defender representing Luis-Azamar.
When the officers got to Home Depot, they did not have a specific "target," Peckrol said. He clarified to the jury that the term “target” is used by ICE to describe people with criminal histories and people who are in the country illegally.
As McNeil sat in his vehicle, he entered the license plate numbers into a database that provided information on the vehicle's owner, the owner's license history, the vehicle's registration and its tag history, McNeil said. The database also provided the name of the vehicle’s owner, the owner’s birthdate, their gender and driver’s license history, he said.
McNeil was looking for suspicious irregularities in the vehicle and vehicle owner information.
If McNeil found anything that looked out of the ordinary, he ran the owner's name through a separate database that showed if the owner had been deported or if they had an order of removal, he said. McNeil described it as “one system with multiple databases.”
It's unknown how many vehicle plates McNeil ran that day. However, McNeil said he eventually radioed the other officers that he "found one that looked good," meaning he found a vehicle that belonged to an undocumented vehicle owner.
The truck that "looked good" belonged to Castro Silas, and the driver was Luis-Azamar. There were no issues with Castro Silas' vehicle registration history, McNeil said.
Luis-Azamar had car insurance and he was not speeding, Luis-Azamar told the jury during his testimony.
Peckrol said Castro Silas’ truck and name were run through their databases because the “condition the vehicle was in” made it suspicious.
The specific details of the events leading up to the detainment of Luis-Azamar and Castro Silas were disputed by the public defender and government attorneys during the trial.
Both father and son were detained by immigration enforcement officers after they were followed from the Home Depot parking lot.
ICE tactic is 'lawful but awful,' attorney says
Greg Fay, a Phoenix-based immigration attorney and vice chair of the Arizona chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he has seen “more and more” cases of immigration enforcement being carried out by Mobile Criminal Apprehension Teams.
Through immigration court and ICE documents that describe the events of their operations, Fray has also seen more cases of ICE using tactics like scanning license plates, he said.
“I think we're still very much learning about what these new enforcement operations entail and whether or not they are complying with the law,” Fray said.
In some cases, immigration laws do allow for warrantless arrests, but it is restricted, Fray said.
“It’s lawful but awful,” Taylor said.
ICE, like other law enforcement agencies, is also allowed to scan license plates and check if people are driving with a suspended license, Taylor said.
In accordance with federal and state law, the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division provides the Arizona Department of Public Safety with access to vehicle data, said Bill Lamoreaux, an ADOT spokesperson.
DPS manages the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System, but "any law enforcement agency can access Arizona Motor Vehicle Registration information for law enforcement purposes," Lamoreaux said.
It is lawful for any police department, local and federal, to read and run license plates to see if you are legally allowed to drive, Taylor said.
“But it's kind of awful as a practice of just trying to pull people over and trying to get people without them committing a crime or any sort of traffic violation,” Taylor said.
People in the United States, whether they are U.S. citizens or undocumented, are entitled to their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, said Benjamin Taylor, a Phoenix civil rights attorney.
Activists call the tactic a form of profiling
Azamar “got some justice” when he was acquitted of assault on a federal officer, but Castro Silas did not, said Salvador Reza, a longtime immigrant-rights activist.
“The father didn’t get any justice. The father is basically out of here, and even though he probably was here for a long time, he has to go back to restart his life at a later age, which is hard,” Reza said.
Reza is glad Azamar was acquitted, but said this does not resolve the problem of indiscriminate detainment of day-laborers.
“Every time they pick up a day-laborer, every time they pick up a landscaper, every time they pick up a roofer, you are diminishing the economy of the United States,” Reza said.
Reza warned that the detainment of day laborers will not only affect the construction industry, but it will also affect individuals, especially the elderly, who might rely on their labor.
“They’re the ones everybody picks off, but they're the ones that mainly make the United States economy run, so it's sad,” Reza said.
Reza said the tactics used by ICE are a form of profiling. A rack on top of the vehicle does not necessarily mean a person is undocumented, "but they're profiling," Reza said.
Despite the risk of being profiled, laborers will continue working, Reza said.
“They have to work, and they're not going to stop working because they need to work. But they have to prepare themselves,” Reza said.
Reza recommended people have an emergency plan in the event a loved one is detained, with contingency plans such as who will care for their children.
The Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez contributed to this article.
Have any news tips or story ideas about immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona? Reach the reporter at david.ulloa@usatodayco.com. Follow him on Instagram & X, formerly Twitter, @davidulloa_ii.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Court testimony gives rare insight into 'lawful but awful' ICE tactics
