Landscapers drove along Hempstead's Main Street, waving from vans filled with gardening equipment and shrubs. Day laborers sat under a tree outside the Home Depot on Fulton Avenue, shouting "thank you."

Cooks peeked out from restaurant back doors as protesters leaned in to whisper, "Esto es para nosotros," or "This is for us."

Several dozen immigrant advocates marched in Hempstead on Sunday, demanding an end to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids they say have left local day laborers and their families terrified.

One man, a construction manager, said he watched ICE agents arrest about 15 day laborers outside Home Depot earlier in June.

"It was terrible," he said. "They’re tearing families apart. Most of those guys have kids ... They’re never coming back."

Newsday is not identifying the man because he requested anonymity over fears of retribution because of his immigration status.

He was one of several protesters outside Home Depot late Sunday morning eyeing a black Ford SUV with tinted windows, which he said was one of the vehicles ICE used that day.

"I’ve never seen ICE come and directly target day laborers like this," said Nadia Marin-Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, who has been an immigrant advocate on Long Island for more than 25 years.

ICE has led at least two raids at the Home Depot in Hempstead and at least one raid at the store in Freeport, she said. "For the workers, it’s terrifying ... They have to make a choice between trying to work to pay rent and feed their families, or possibly getting arrested," she said.

There have been between 30 and 40 known ICE raids on Long Island this year, according to Marin-Molina, who called the figure "an undercount."

Federal agents were arresting an average of 20 people per day across New York State under President Donald Trump through early June, an 80% increase from last year, according to The New York Times. Trump has said the mass deportation effort is necessary for public safety.

Groups of so-called "rapid responders" across Long Island have rushed to sites where ICE agents are spotted to film the arrests and connect immigrants with attorneys.

"They say they’re coming for criminals. That is a lie," said Dafny Irizarry, founder and president of the Long Island Latino Teachers Association.

"I have children in my classroom telling me, ‘ICE is knocking on my door looking for me, Ms. Irizarry,’ ” she said.

About 75% of students in the Hempstead Union Free school district identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the state Education Department.

Fear of ICE has pushed immigrants on Long Island to avoid doctor’s appointments and grocery stores, keep their kids home from school and cancel large cultural events, Newsday has reported.

ICE agents arrested several people near the Glen Cove LIRR station earlier this month, an operation local police said they were not aware of in advance.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman was among the first local politicians nationally to push Trump’s mass deportation agenda by partnering with ICE to give 10 Nassau police detectives the power to arrest and help deport immigrants with no legal status.

Blakeman has said the program is "not about raids," but instead meant to target people charged with a non-immigration-related crime.

"If there’s probable cause that someone committed a crime, and they’re here illegally, we will call ICE," he has told Newsday.

Nassau police have not made any immigration arrests, Blakeman told Newsday last week, adding that the 10 detectives have been trained by ICE, but not yet deployed.

The New York Civil Liberties Union last week sued Nassau County, its police department and its police commissioner, Patrick Ryder, over the federal program — claiming it violates state law and fuels racial profiling. Blakeman has called the lawsuit "frivolous."