Target finds itself once again mixed up in America’s latest rancorous political divide as it faces pressure from residents, clergy and others to respond after immigration agents tackled a store worker and shoved him into an S.U.V.
Cellphone videos show that Border Patrol agents detained two employees at the Target store in Richfield, Minn., last week. Both employees appeared to have been filming the agents, and one of them had been directing expletives at them.
“I’m a U.S. citizen!” one of the workers shouted as agents pushed him toward their sport utility vehicle. “U.S. citizen! U.S. citizen!”
In the days since, some residents of Richfield, a suburb just south of Minneapolis, have had mixed feelings about shopping at the store.
“It’s terrible,” said DeAnthony Jones, a shopper who had seen video footage of the episode. “I probably shouldn’t be coming here and giving them my money.”
The retailer can’t seem to stop being boycotted, for one reason or another.
For years, Target’s leaders have been addressed in impassioned petitions, and its stores used for viral videos, as demonstrators of all political stripes have beseeched the company to take a stand on a host of issues, including racism, gay rights and corporate diversity programs.
And now, immigration enforcement. A spokesman for Target declined to comment. The company has yet to issue a public statement about the Richfield incident.
Last year, Mr. Jones, who lives about five minutes from the store, briefly avoided Target for a different reason: The company had announced that it was ending its diversity, equity and inclusion goals. But the store carries products that Mr. Jones said he could not find elsewhere, so he has returned.
There’s little that Target can do to prevent federal agents from operating in its parking lots and store aisles because there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy in those public spaces, said John Medeiros, a corporate immigration lawyer at Nilan Johnson Lewis, a Minnesota law firm. Offices in the back of the store — behind closed doors — are searchable only with a warrant, he added.
“You can ask them to leave, but there’s not necessarily a constitutional violation of them doing that because of the location,” Mr. Medeiros said.
The retailer’s headquarters are in Minneapolis, a city reeling in the wake of furious protests after an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Good, 37, there on Jan 7. (President Trump and other officials defended the shooting as lawful, saying the agent who fired had been acting in self-defense.)
Target is among the most prominent companies that call the Twin Cities home, alongside 3M and UnitedHealth Group. Its stores in Minneapolis became backdrops for protests after the murder of George Floyd by a city police officer in 2020.
Last February, Target became the focus of the most vigorous boycott yet, over its D.E.I. rollback — programs it once championed, including those that benefited Black-owned suppliers. Protesters gathered outside the headquarters with signs that called for a “National Target Boycott.” The Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, called for a 40-day “fast” from shopping at Target.
The impact was immediate. In May, Target’s chief executive, Brian Cornell, pinned much of the company’s problems on the economy, but admitted that the reaction to the D.E.I. rollback was hurting sales.
“We’re not satisfied with this performance,” he said on a call with analysts.
Mr. Cornell said in August that he would step down as chief executive. The company announced two months later that it would cut 1,800 corporate jobs in its first major layoff in a decade, and then lowered its profit forecast for the full year. Mr. Cornell’s successor, Michael Fiddelke, a 20-year Target veteran who ran operations, is set to step into the role on Feb. 1.
Petitioning corporations for change is always an awkward endeavor, as any political stance risks alienating many of their customers. In 2016, conservative activists boycotted Target over a policy that allowed transgender employees and customers to choose the bathroom that corresponded with their gender identity.
In 2023, anti-L.G.B.T.Q. activists called for boycotts over the store’s Pride Month merchandise. A year later, Target partly backed down, removing the goods from some stores. That prompted more boycotts, this time from progressives.
Target is in a difficult position. If it backtracks or tries to play both sides, the situation only worsens, said Dorothy Crenshaw, the head of Crenshaw Communications, a public relations firm. Silence, she added, “might be a legally safe option, but it’s reputational kryptonite.”
On Thursday, dozens of clergy members gathered at Target’s headquarters and asked the company to keep immigration agents off its properties and to pressure Congress to hold immigration officials accountable.
“We know that there’s power there, and it’s not about demonizing Target,” said the Rev. Laura Messer, who was there. “It’s about asking them to use the power they hold for the greater good.”
The Department of Homeland Security said one of the Target workers in the videos had been arrested in connection with “assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.” The department did not answer additional questions, and it was unclear on Friday if either employee had been charged.
State Representative Michael Howard, a Democrat whose district includes Richfield, said both workers were U.S. citizens and had been released.
The video footage shows that just before the arrest, the agents had been walking alongside the Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino.
Since Ms. Good’s killing, tensions in the Minneapolis area have been high, as protests have grown larger and there has been an uptick in skirmishes between heavily armed federal agents and residents.
At the Target in Richfield, several employees said on Thursday that what had happened to their colleagues made them fear for their safety. They did not know whether the two young men would return to work. (The employees said they did not want their names published for fear of losing their jobs, but added that their managers had been supportive.)
The situation in Minneapolis is bad all around, said Mr. Jones, the shopper. “If I didn’t have a family,” he added, “I’d be out here protesting, too.”
Kim Bhasin is a business reporter covering the retail industry for The Times.
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