Demonstrators in Dinkytown call for Target to speak out against ICE
Community members organized a sit-in at the Dinkytown Target on Friday.
It's part of broader protests calling on the Minneapolis-based retailer to respond more directly to immigration enforcement.
Demonstrators outside the location near the University of Minnesota want the company — long seen as a community institution — to publicly oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on its properties, and ban agents from entering stores.
"ICE has been staging operations at Target parking lots all across the city," organizer Elan Axelbank said.
"Seven hundred small businesses closed on the 23rd in solidarity with a general strike. Target stayed open," protester Chris Gray said.
The group planned on a sit-in, but officers waiting at the doorway stopped them from advancing.
Target declined to comment on the protest.
Tensions have been high since a video went viral earlier this month showing immigration agents on top of two Target employees in the entrance of a store in Richfield, Minnesota. After an apparent verbal dispute, ICE put the workers in the back of an SUV. Soon after, both men were released.
This week, company leadership sent internal messages focused on safety and protocols. Target's incoming CEO also joined 60 other business leaders calling for de-escalation after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
"Well, Alex Pretti was my neighbor," Gray said. "He was shot in the street and I think about it, I think about like, wow, dying, being pepper-sprayed on cold concrete sounds horrific."
"I gotta carry my passport just to leave the house," said a man who wasn't a part of the protest, but supports it. "I got family members that got stopped [by ICE] and they're all citizens."
The retailer is in a difficult spot. Anyone, including officers, can enter public areas of a business. Legal experts say permission is required only in a private space, like a back office.
"Of course they can ban people,Target doesn't want to upset Trump," Axelbank said.
From what WCCO witnessed, Friday's demonstrations were peaceful.
There are more sit-ins planned at various Targets on Saturday.
