Penske in Hot Water Over Statement Issued After Trucks Used in LA Immigration Sweep
“The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.”
Sadly, corporate wokeism is still alive and well, something we saw play out this week in the aftermath of an immigration sweep that occurred at a Home Depot in Los Angeles.
Video shared on social media from Fox News reporter Matt Finn, who was embedded with the immigration enforcement team, showed federal agents emerging from a large truck, which Finn noted was a Penske truck, to canvas the Westlake location’s parking lot on Wednesday after dawn broke for illegal immigrants:
Breaking: DHS arrives in Penske trucks at a Home Depot in McArthur Park area of LA for early morning immigration enforcement. The area was filled with migrants who scattered. DHS says MS 13 has a chokehold on this area, which is one reason they’re carrying out the highly… pic.twitter.com/hTskuM9Q4l
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) August 6, 2025
BREAKING: federal immigration operation underway right now at Home
Depot near McArthur Park in LA, near site where Karen Bass showed up last month during immigration enforcement. pic.twitter.com/UUkJeIAKe9— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) August 6, 2025
One video shows some of those arrested being put in a van, not the Penske truck:
Feds leap from a Penske moving van, chasing several people at a Westlake District Home Depot before taking the individuals into custody. The new tactic triggering outrage in the community today and protests tonight. Is it legal? Tonight at 11 from ABC7 https://t.co/h3uf1TOyKT pic.twitter.com/P4s4JJJbKG
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 7, 2025
Per DHS, 16 illegal immigrants were taken into custody during the round-up:
The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday carried out an immigration raid dubbed “Operation Trojan Horse” in Los Angeles that resulted in multiple arrests.
What we know: The operation happened around 7 a.m. in the area surrounding a Home Depot on Wilshire Boulevard near MacArthur Park.
Video shows several agents bursting from the rear of a Penske moving truck, then running toward a group of people near a sidewalk food stand. The crowd scattered when they saw the federal agents. A DHS spokesperson confirmed 16 undocumented migrants from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua were detained.
As Legal Insurrection previously reported, the drug-infested MacArthur Park was the scene of a massive joint immigration enforcement operation last month in an area that, as noted above, is known to have a significant MS-13 presence. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) even paid the area a visit in a failed attempt to get the agents to pull back at the time.
Regarding the Home Depot parking lot sweep, outrage, of course, ensued among the Usual Suspects, with local “leaders” and pro-illegal immigration groups denouncing the actions from DHS:
The Office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried the raids and stipulated that such federal actions are prohibited by a recent court ruling.
“For months federal agents have been masking themselves and now they’re using rental trucks to conduct their seemingly discriminatory raids – these tactics are dangerous,” the Mayor’s Office said in a statement. “The Federal court of appeals made clear that it is unconstitutional in this country to racially profile people and snatch them from worksites. The City is gathering information about these reported raids and considering all legal options. Tactics like this are un-American and we will never accept these terrorizing ploys as a new normal.”
The United Farm Workers said the labor union is also worried about a possible violation of the court’s order.
“While more investigation is needed, we have serious concerns that the federal govt may be in violation of the federal judge’s July TRO,” the union wrote on social media.
Penske Truck Rental, too, issued a statement, noting that “The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.”
A statement from Penske Truck Rental pic.twitter.com/R000nxtda0
— Penske Transportation Solutions (@PenskeNews) August 6, 2025
Needless to say, that… did not go over well with people who pointed out that Penske doesn’t appear to have released any statements when their trucks have been used to haul illegal immigrants into and around the country:
No statements. https://t.co/ZfPsPRIbeh pic.twitter.com/XZl1Bf9F2m
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) August 6, 2025
Penske would prefer that their trucks be used to traffic illegal aliens across the U.S. border. https://t.co/vasaaPnn1X pic.twitter.com/O0l2i7qu95
— Adam Johnston (@ConquestTheory) August 6, 2025
Interesting how Penske has issues with and puts out statements over our law enforcement enforcing our laws, yet is completely silent when their trucks are used to illegally smuggle people (as young as toddlers) in crazy conditions.
How about we get #BoycottPenske going? pic.twitter.com/jx371WRkQk
— Leftism (@LeftismForU) August 7, 2025
I think we might have just discovered why @PenskeNews is so mad about criminals being apprehended by @ICEgov. https://t.co/nQmCu2duiE pic.twitter.com/MDNkio4KK5
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 6, 2025
Illegals use Penske trucks to smuggle in more illegals and drugs, Penske is silent.
DHS uses a Penske trucks in an ICE raid, Penske takes issue with that, publicly.
Penske hates America.
Fck Penske.
Cc: @PenskeNews pic.twitter.com/Zdb79tkimn
— Kentucky Girl (@Notwokenow) August 7, 2025
Article III Project senior counsel Will Chamberlain also tackled the legal side of things:
I’m seeing a lot of people saying that Penske is doing this for liability reasons.
NONSENSE. Every time you rent a car/truck you sign a contract saying you won’t do stuff like this and expressly waiving liability/indemnifying if someone is injured via improper use of the vehicle. There’s no way that this event could have somehow made Penske vulnerable to suit.
This is just an idiotic liberal comms team thinking that they need to appease a few rabid open borders types by insulting the administration most of their customers voted for.
Is it time for Penske to be “Bud Lighted”? Prof. Jacobson has thoughts:
Don't Bud Light yourself. https://t.co/UWahSPA0XK
— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) August 6, 2025
U-Haul or Ryder, anyone?
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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Comments
ha. So they had to show proof on insurance when they rented it or did they get the insurance from Penske?
Does Penske have a gov contract to supply vans?
Hopefully not any more.
Tell them you were using it to remove the cake someone left out in the rain…
I don’t think that I can take it ’cause it took so long to bake it….(others) now.
“Illegal alien” is not a race. Neither is “Hispanic surnamed” or “Spanish speaking”. Nor is “soccer supporting” or “Muslim”.
So it is impossible to racially profile something that is not a racial characteristic.
The fact that white European countries are not historically corrupt and crime-ridden shitholes is the only reason we aren’t capturing vast lots of pale-skinned illegals.
Crime-ridden shitholes, in this century, tend to be inhabited by darker-skinned people. This is a fact that has no relation to racial profiling, other than to observe objective reality.
Let’s be honest. White criminals commit more white collar crime. In other words, a higher class of criminal.
😉
Sh*tlibs spent decades executing their “long march through the institutions.” It’s going to take time for “go woke, get wrecked” to work its way through the system.
Why does Bass think that the gov is racially profiling? Sounds like professional, job based profiling.
The “Penske” name used to golden in racing in the 60’s and 70’s… used to be.
I think Penske has a point here. Their box trucks have stickers in the box truck that say, “No Ryders”
/bah-dum-bump
Be sure to tip your waitress.
I didn’t downvote this, but damn Grizzly…. that Hertz
I’ll be sent to the Sixt circle of hell for that.
Grizz is joking, but in fact he hit the ten ring.
LI has published an incomplete (intentionally edited?) version of Penske’s complaint.
Penske specifically complained that their trucks are not meant to carry people in the cargo area. For safety reasons, it is a violation of their policy, maybe their insurance.
Their sole complaint is that the ICE agents rode in the cargo compartment.
Oops. On a different computer I do see the entire statement from Penske in an image (one that apparently did not show due to a “cookie permissions” issue on the machine on which I initially viewed it).
“now they’re using rental trucks to conduct their seemingly discriminatory raids”
I was discriminated against by a State Trooper. He was driving an unmarked vehicle, and pulled me over. For all I know it could have been a Budget Rent a Car.
It had nothing to do with me driving 80 in a 65 zone. It’s because I was white and he was black.
How can these people get away with using unmarked cars and go after innocent people?
I don’t know how hands on (or off) Roger Penske is with that business unit, which is a significant piece of his empire. But, he’s a very good friend of Trump’s and has been a prodigious GOP donor for decades. His son, who owns the media/publishing giant, Penske Media Group is a faithful Democrat, publishing many magazines including Rilling Stone and the Hollywood Reporter, which are obviously anti-Trump.
Roger’s solution is to buy all of the parking lots.
Maybe the Feds should reconsider the expensive flyovers above the Penske-owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Penske’s IndyCar also protested ICE’s use name for the new illegal alien detention center, the Speedway Slammer.
It is so amazingly cliche, but so often true, that the offspring of successful and conservative people are spoiled and intractably liberal….another case of the world getting “Pritzgered”!
This response by Penske was not well thought out. Some corporations seem very slow to acknowledge that not PO the majority of their customer base is more beneficial than any fleeting acclaim from the resistance wokiestas who will turn on them the moment a wrong ‘preferred pronoun’ is uttered by some random low level employee.
Penske management has no balls.
The statement should have stated:
“The Penske company and our employees are proud to stand with federal law enforcement and are happy to aid in the enforcing our our nation’s immigration laws.”
That’s it.
It’s not that they have no balls. It’s that they’re traitors who look to make money off of the invasion of America.
First, if Penske does not want their trucks to be used by the government, by all means the government should take that into consideration in their decision of which trucks to rent.
Second, in non-sanctuary jurisdictions if their trucks are found to be in violation of any state or local laws restricting whether the cargo boxes can be used to move people, said trucks should be confiscated at the very least until the question of whether any laws were violated is adjudicated.
Third, if those citizens who are against the hostile foreign invaders are in need of a rental truck, perhaps they should be keeping this in mind in their decision process of which company to rent from.
Subotai Bahadur
Penske is a treasonous POS company that should be investigated for its role in human trafficking and every other crime that Penske trucks (or any Penske products) were used in. That company is absolutely despicable and should be exiled to Mexico or Cuba, where they really belong. What a bunch of treasonous turds.
Trump gave Penske the Presidential Medal of Freedom in his first term. I wonder if he’ll ask for it back.
Odd how Penske is the truck rental company of choice for Patriot Front, and we never heard one squeak from them.
get those tesla monster looking like vehicles
seeing the lefty pushed EV with the ICE emerging would be a nice irony
I guess I’m in the minority here as I saw nothing wrong with Penske’s statement. Their trucks are designed to haul freight not people and they are just covering their behinds in case someone gets hurt riding on one like that. They want to make it clear they have no legal liability if someone is riding in the back. I believe their rental agreement already says that
In theory, I agree with you. Penske is merely covering its ass.
The problem though is Penske kept its collective mouth shut when their trucks were being used to carry out the overthrow of the nation (used by cartels to transport hundreds, if not thousands of illegal invaders, weapons, drugs, and lord knows what else; by front groups for FBLie and other feds to trample on constitutional protections, and probably much more) without a single comment.
So, they decided to take sides. Vocally, unapologetically, and clearly against our law enforcement officers carrying out legal actions against the illegal invaders Penske supported in their quest to u throw this nation through a Cloward-Piven strategy.
As far as I am concerned, Penske should get the same treatment as other anti-American companies.
DHS probably will use another brand of rental trucks next time simply because of the publicity the Penske trucks got this time.
There is no need for an official boycott of Penske. They can be used again after all the other companies are used and the illegals start to think Penske trucks are safe again.
So MS-13 is embedded on MacArthur Park and its vicinity. Who does MS-13 victimize? Obviously not anyone Mayor Bass cares about. How can Angelenos stand to look at that useless woman!!! Oh, and Penske should be thrilled with the free publicity.
Does .gov have to tell a private company why it is renting material?