On January 21, construction workers and community allies sang, chanted, and marched into the offices of D.R. Horton, which organizers say is the largest developer of single family homes in the country.
On January 21, construction workers and community allies sang, chanted, and marched into the offices of D.R. Horton, which organizers say is the largest developer of single family homes in the country. They aimed to deliver letters asking the company to protect workers against ICE raids. Within 15 minutes, at least seven Lakeville police arrived and ordered the crowd to leave the premises. Marchers left the stack of letters in the lobby and continued the rally outside.
The action was organized by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (CTUL), a worker center, and it was part of a nation-wide effort calling on D.R. Horton to take action after reports of ICE detaining construction workers on construction job sites. Similar actions were held across the country, including in Atlanta, Ga., Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn., and Baton Rouge and Lafayette, La.
Workday Magazine spoke with Alexander, a construction worker who specializes in siding and is a member of CTUL. He said in Spanish, “I have friends who have been detained while working on construction sites. That’s why we’re here today—so that ICE respects places of work.”
Isabela Escalona
The protesters in the lobby of D.R. Horton’s offices.Alexander, who asked we only publish his first name to protect him from retaliation, explained that he’s been out of work for over a month ever since ICE ramped up activity in Minnesota. Construction projects have been paused because many workers are afraid to leave their homes to work, he said, with ICE targeting workers in roofing and siding in particular. “What they do is they park their cars outside of construction sites and wait for the workers as they leave to detain them,” he said.
According to a January 20 press release from CTUL, “D.R. Horton is one of the largest homebuilders in Minnesota, the largest nationwide, and was #120 in the Fortune 500 list in 2025.” The release alleges that CTUL reached out to the developer “on several occasions to offer resources to prevent ICE and federal agents from going on their job sites without a valid judicial warrant, and has gotten no response.”
Eduardo Cardenas, an organizer with CTUL, said at the rally that workers reported that four construction workers were detained in different instances while working jobs at D.R. Horton sites earlier this month, including one location in Shakopee, Minn. Calls were made to report the abductions to Monarca Rapid Response Hotline on January 1, January 7, January 8, and January 9, Cardenas said, alleging workers being detained at the job site in Shakopee, the worker center says.
The action is a part of CTUL’s Building Dignity and Respect campaign, which calls on developers to sign on to a code of conduct in order to prevent wage theft, labor trafficking, worker misclassification, and harassment on non-union construction projects in Minnesota. Other campaign targets include United Properties, Robert Thomas Homes, Lennar, Yellow Tree, and Solhem.
The marchers called out the hypocrisy of D.R. Horton, which enacted its private property rights against protesters by calling the police, while not enacting those same private property rights when ICE agents demand access to job sites in order to detain workers.
Isabela Escalona
Within 15 minutes, at least seven Lakeville police arrived and ordered the crowd to leave the premises. Marchers left the stack of letters in the lobby and continued the rally outside.Workday Magazine reached out to D.R. Horton for comment and did not hear back by deadline.
Organizers with the Union for Southern Service Workers, based in North Carolina, were also present at the rally in support of the workers from CTUL. One organizer, who goes by “Mama Cookie,” told Workday Magazine in an interview why she and her colleagues came to Minnesota during this time to support immigrant workers as well as participate in the January 23 Minnesota shutdown.
“North Carolina can do it just like Minnesota. We have learned. The tactics are great, the communications are great, and the people are great. So it’s possible to do a general strike anywhere,” said Mama Cookie.
CTUL, as well as dozens of other worker centers and unions in Minnesota, have signed on to the call for the Minnesota shutdown on January 23. Workers across industries plan to strike, call-out sick, refuse to shop, and march downtown Minneapolis to demand ICE leave Minnesota. Other notable signatories include the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Minneapolis Federation of Educators, St. Paul Federation of Educators, Amalgamated Transit Union 1005, the Minnesota Nurses Association, among many more unions and local businesses across the state.
Prince Williams, an organizer with the Union of Southern Service Workers, said, “A general strike is one of the most upfront reminders to Trump and the billionaires of who actually makes this country run. It’s not ICE, it’s not Trump, it’s not the billionaires, it’s everyday people. It’s the people who take the kids to school who run the hospital, who do construction, all these people make society function, and if we don’t move, nothing moves.”
As the marchers made their way to rally in the street, they chanted, “We’ll be back” and continued making speeches and singing chants on the sidewalk in front of the building. “I thank God for your support and presence here today,” Alexander told the crowd. He added, “Together we are stronger. The people united will never be defeated.”