Target said it was not working with federal immigration authorities as it faced criticism over the use of a store parking lot in New York as a staging area for agents after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man on Thursday.
The store, inside the Shops at Marble Hill, a mall on West 225th Street, is just down the street from where the shooting occurred. The mall also contains Marshalls, CVS, Starbucks and Foot Locker. Marble Hill is a neighborhood near the northern tip of Manhattan and is often considered part of the Bronx.
“Target has no cooperative agreements with ICE or any other immigration enforcement agency,” a company spokesman said in a statement on Friday.
After the shooting, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, demanded that Target prohibit immigration officials from using its spaces, and protesters have gathered in the Marble Hill neighborhood to call for ICE to leave the city.
“The Target Corporation must stop offering their Bronx properties as private staging sites for ICE, in compliance with requests from New York officials,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “Target opening up large, active retail parking lots for paramilitary activity is unacceptable and places the entire community at risk.”
It’s unclear, what authority, if any, Target has to decide on who uses the parking lot, which are largely considered accessible areas to everyone. This week, before the shooting, city officials sent a letter to Kingsbridge Associates, the developer of the plaza that Target occupies, asking that it terminate any agreements with ICE to use the private parking lot.
“ICE has been using the Target parking lot as their holdout almost every day since March 2026,” Naveed Hasan, a city public official, said as he stood across from Target. “It isn’t surprising that a shooting like this has finally happened right in front of it.”
Kingsbridge Associates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Target was also entangled with the actions of federal immigration agent in January, when Border Patrol agents detained two employees, who are U.S. citizens, at a store in Richfield, Minn.
That incident led to a sit-in by more than 100 members of the clergy at Target’s corporate headquarters in nearby Minneapolis, as residents protested in the days after an immigration officer fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, while she was in her vehicle.
Target has been caught in the middle of America’s political divide many times in recent years. In 2023, anti-L.G.B.T.Q. activists called for boycotts over gay pride merchandise. Last year, the retailer was boycotted over the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs it had once championed. Company executives have said the D.E.I. backlash impacted sales.
The retailer is trying to pull itself out of a lengthy sales rut as it struggles to cope with competition from low-cost rival Walmart. Michael Fiddelke, the chief executive of Target, has outlined a plan to revamp stores and overhaul its product offerings across categories from cosmetics to furniture.
The shooting in New York on Thursday occurred as ICE officers tried to arrest Oscar Belgal, 28, a Dominican immigrant, while he was in a car with his 5-year-old son. At least one agent shot seven rounds at the car, and Mr. Belgal was hit in the neck, according to the police.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement Thursday evening that he would press President Trump to end ICE’s presence in New York.
“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation,” Mr. Mamdani said. “I have called the president. When we speak, I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”
Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, said Friday that the agents involved would be placed on administrative leave while the agency investigated the shooting.
Oishika Neogi contributed reporting.
The post Target Says It’s Not Working With ICE Amid Uproar Over Parking Lot Use appeared first on New York Times.
